We asked the Lean Enterprise Academy to look at how Toyota’s approach to production could be applied to healthcare. This is not as odd as it first appears. The Toyota system – often known as Lean – has been applied in many environments, including healthcare (and not just manufacturing) for some time now, with staggering improvements in quality and efficiency.
The underpinning values of removing activities that don’t add value and of respect for people and society lie at the heart of healthcare. And the principles on which Lean is based are generic. They can be applied anywhere: at home,in a bank, GP practice or hospital.