Upgrading a 90-bedded cancer centre in North Eastern India

Case Summary

Camomile worked with a non-profit cancer centre to upgrade its facilities and become a Centre of Excellence in cancer care in the region. All plans were created keeping in mind future requirements and scalability options. Patient flow and clinical pathways were a critical part of our recommendations to our client.

A high potential cancer hospital with some key elements missing

The 90-bedded not-for-profit cancer centre in a remote location in Northeastern India catered almost exclusively to a low-income population. They treated more than 3,000 patients every year and at highly subsidized rates or free of cost.

The centre was headed by a passionate and acclaimed oncologist along with a dedicated team of employees who believed in the mission that no one should be denied cancer treatment or suffer indignity because of lack of resources.

The centre had an unsustainable financial structure with most capital costs as well as some operating costs covered by donations from government, trusts and private individuals or groups. This fragmented financial situation meant the centre was poorly planned out. Functional flow was suboptimal with key equipment missing. In spite of some inefficiencies, the centre had the ambition and drive to become a centre of excellence.

It required management expertise and a clear phased out plan on how to reach its goals in the most efficient way.

A thorough review of the hospital operations

Camomile deployed its team of experts to undertake a review of the facility.

  • The existing building drawings were analyzed, and any functional flaws were identified. The stacking and distribution plan of various departments were studied to recommend strategies to optimize the functional flow
  • Structured interviews with key stakeholders in all departments were conducted to understand their pain points, their requirements and needs in terms of equipment and manpower
  • A review of support services like MEP, HVAC and others was undertaken to understand the working condition of key equipment

Impact

We put a strategy in place to develop the hospital into a centre of excellence in cancer care in the next 5 years, including plans for academic and research wings.

We also streamlined the patient flow and proposed key functionalities that were missing like a central sterilization unit and essential equipment needs.

With these strategies in place, the centre was planned to expand to 200 beds and also offer new services like pediatric oncology, rehabilitative medicine and blood bank. This would make it the major cancer centre in a 300 km radius.

#oncology #hospitaloperations

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