Exploring the barriers to lean health care implementation

Abstract

This article analyses implementation barriers to lean thinking in health care, based on experience of applying lean thinking in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). It discusses the differences and similarities between lean thinking in manufacturing and health care and why lean implementation has been slower in health care than in manufacturing. The problems to be faced and overcome when implementing lean approaches are compared with those in other improvement programmes. The authors conclude that lean approaches do offer ways to improve health care.