We need to do things differently

Case Study: Empowering patients to need less care and do better in Highland Hospital, South Sweden

The Highland hospital in Eksjoe was a hospital that most of us would recognise: it forced patients into its way of doing things, instead of adapting the system to meet the patients’ actual needs. When the hospital analysed its processes from a patients’ point of view, it found ways to redesign them radically. Today, doctors are no longer the ‘top dogs’ inspecting every patient as they lie in their beds, but rather the patients lead the discussions at case planning meetings held in the medical team room. Significant improvements in the quality of well-being and medical outcomes of patients have been achieved while remaining within budget.

Jörgen Tholstrup reports ...