Sustainability of lean in South African public hospitals

Abstract

One of the initiatives by South African public hospitals to improve the level of service was the introduction of Lean. The introduction of Lean in South Africa followed the global trend of Lean applications in healthcare, which has been steadily climbing since 2000. Several public hospitals have implemented Lean in specific areas or sections, and these implementations have shown early positive results. However, the Lean implementations have faced a higher failure rate over time. This failure rate could be attributed to a lack of information or a knowledge gap on what causes Lean implementations not to be sustainable. This paper aims to explore information on what affects the sustainability of Lean in public hospitals. Interviews were conducted with practitioners involved with Lean in public hospitals. Through interviews, 44 factors were explored and synthesised into 13 themes.