Implementing and sustaining transformational change in health care: lessons learnt about clinical process redesign

Clinical process redesign has enabled significant improvements in the delivery of health care services in emergency departments and elective surgery programs in New South Wales and at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia, with tangible benefits for patients and staff. The principles used in clinical process redesign are not new; they have been applied in other industries with significant gains for many years, but have only recently been introduced into health care systems. Through experience with clinical process redesign, we have learnt much about the factors critical to the success of implementing and sustaining this process in the health care setting. The key elements for success are leadership by senior executives, clinical leadership, team-based problem solving, a focus on the patient journey, access to data, ambitious targets, strong performance management, and a process for maintaining improvement.