The final phase of Tampere University Hospital’s reform programme is an extensive change management project
The final phase of Tampere University Hospital’s reform programme is undoubtedly one of the largest and most extensive reform and renovation projects on a hospital campus in Finland. It is also the largest reform project in the history of Tampere University Hospital.
Like all hospital projects, this project is more than just a construction or facilities project – it is an enormous change management project seeking to ensure effective hospital services well into the future. Tampere University Hospital’s reform programme has a diverse set of objectives: the hospital’s operating methods will be modernised amid mounting demands from clients and society as a whole. At the same time, it is important for the employer to continue offering a competitive workplace.
“The key objectives of the reform programme are to ensure safety, streamline patient care processes, and optimise the use of personnel, all of which are interrelated,” says Arto Ranta, Director of Strategy in the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county.
The healthcare sector faces many challenges including a shortage of personnel and the correct allocation of scarce resources. Consequently, a reform programme is required to ensure productive work and build the facilities accordingly.
Decisions made in the master planning phase of new hospital campus areas should be backed by an understanding of the personnel and material flows between the various parts of the hospital buildings and the overall profitability of the alternative implementations. In addition, the placement of hospital functions within the buildings should account for planned developments and should involve an assessment of whether the development goals can be achieved in each alternative location.
“Building a hospital campus while enhancing the hospital’s operations far into the future is perhaps the most demanding and complex type of construction. Even more so when every design involves some kind of reform, streamlining, or improvement of operating methods,” says Matias Seini, Acting Development Director at Tampere University Hospital.
Knowledge-based management is the key to functional, high-quality social welfare and healthcare services
Delfoi’s analytical approach ensures that decision-makers are backed by sufficient information about different operating and business models and their impacts in the future, allowing them to make decisions based on facts about clients’ service needs and the requirements of core healthcare activities. Consolidated and diverse information enables long-term strategic development.
It is easier for decision-makers to reach objective solutions when social welfare and healthcare decisions are based on reliable information and analyses deriving from it, and when the various alternatives are compared objectively. The causal relationships and future impacts of various actions and events can be predicted more reliably by integrating knowledge-based management into the management culture. Knowledge-based management helps to develop activities and allocate resources where the benefit is greatest.
“When the diverse future needs of a complex organisation and a massive project are evaluated and hospital operations are developed over such a long time period, Delfoi is able to create accurate simulations based on provided background data and produce valuable information to support decision-making,” says Ranta. He adds:
“Through end-user interviews, Delfoi is able to produce valuable information about things that the hospital higher management may not consider. It is often wise to ask users whether they consider a particular policy realistic. This reduces the chance of misjudgements. I think users are the most critical interface, and it is very important to consult them in the planning phase. As we move forward, client feedback is one resource we could use more extensively in decision-making.”
“Delfoi is especially good at compiling the initial data required to build simulations. This is no mean feat in an organisation as complex as ours. Our discussions with them have always been good. They provide interesting perspectives and a great deal of expertise in all development,” says Seini.
Change management provides the support needed to tackle future challenges
Delfoi’s role in Tampere University Hospital’s construction and investment projects is to ensure that projects are primarily understood as comprehensive entities involving reform and change management for operational processes, and not simply as construction projects. When projects are prepared, it is important to produce initial data about the required scope while considering the various alternatives and differing service forecasts. Delfoi’s specialists provide project management guidance on the types of process and logistics planning to carry out in each planning phase and the degree of accuracy required. Delfoi works in close cooperation with the project organisation and end-users to produce the initial data for architectural design and other operational concepts.
“The key form of added value that Delfoi has brought to the project is the realisation that this is more than just a construction project; it is a large-scale operational development and reform project. In my opinion, Delfoi has been very successful in this regard,” says Ranta. He concludes:
“We have worked with Delfoi for a long time now. The key to our partnership has always been mutual respect and appreciation for each other’s work. Delfoi’s customer pledge is to make complex things simple and efficient, and I can vouch for their success in this.”
Rashmi Werning, Director of Delfoi’s Healthcare Consulting business, shares Ranta’s views on the effective and uncomplicated partnership we use to support the project in reforming and conceptualising operational processes.
“A project of this scale underlines the need to design processes for the various functions on the hospital campus according to patient flows, as the space and resources needed by different functions are interlinked. It is great that this project has seen such an investment in designing and optimising the functional and treatment processes and logistics in several stages. Ultimately, improvements to operational processes and logistics have a significant impact on the future operating costs of the functions,” says Werning.
She adds: “On a larger scale, the goals of the final phase of the reform programme will be reflected throughout the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county.”
The mission of Delfoi Healthcare Consulting is to streamline social welfare and healthcare processes and patient flows. Delfoi helps to make organisations more client-oriented, taking into account the constantly changing societal needs, and customers’ expectations and demands for efficient services.
Tays
The scope of the first part of Tampere University Hospital’s reform programme is approximately 160,000 m2 (gross), and the estimated cost is approximately EUR 880 million. Construction will take place from 2024 to 2032. The new building will replace the old facilities; the emergency department, the surgery unit, ICU, imaging, inpatient wards, and outpatient clinics of different specialties. The associated support functions and logistics will also move to the new building. The principal designers of the final phase of the reform programme are Manu, a Finnish consortium, and C.F. Møller, a Danish architectural company. Delfoi Ltd is responsible for designing the functional processes and logistics.
“We have worked with Delfoi for a long time now. The key to our partnership has always been mutual respect and appreciation for each other’s work. Delfoi’s customer pledge is to make complex things simple and efficient, and I can vouch for their success in this.”
– Arto Ranta, Director of Strategy in the Pirkanmaa wellbeing services county
