Managing a variable acute patient flow – categorising the strategies

Purpose – This paper aims to explore if actions used at a hospital to manage a variable acute patient flow can be categorised using the concepts of lean, agile and leagile. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical evidence from a university hospital was gathered by interviews, internal documents, shadowing and participation in meetings. Identified actions used at both hospital level and departmental level are categorised as lean or agile, while combinations of actions are compared with different leagile approaches. Findings – Actions from every lean and agile category derived from literature are used at the hospital, however in varying extent. Many agile actions are reactive, indicating a lack of proactive measures. Actions that directly manage external variation are also few in numbers. Leagile approaches of all three combinations derived from literature are also used at the hospital. Research limitations/implications – As a single-case study is used, empirical generalisation to other hospitals cannot be deduced. Future research assessing the appropriateness of different actions for managing a variable acute patient flow is encouraged. Practical implications – The use of actions within both lean and agile categories indicate the possibility of combining these process strategies in hospitals, and not only focusing on implementing lean. By cleverly combining lean and agile actions, leagile approaches can be formed. Originality/value – The use of lean in health care has been a topic of research, while the use of agile has been sparsely researched, as well as the combination of the two.