Public sector
Helping to cope with Government cuts
Challenges
The Government Spending Review has hit the public sector hard. The £81bn cut from public spending included 28% cuts in government funding for local councils; police funding slashed by 20% and £7bn in extra welfare cuts.
Whilst the healthcare sector has survived budget cuts, it faces a difficult future. The NHS has been told to save up to £20bn to help it cope with increasing pressures from the price of drugs, an ageing population and lifestyle-related problems such as obesity.
The challenge facing all departments is the requirement to deliver the same frontline services as before, but with considerably reduced resources. In many cases budget cuts in other areas combined with rising unemployment levels has placed increased pressure on systems already struggling to cope.
Why us?
It often takes a fresh approach to problem solving to make a significant difference. Our years of undisputed success for the manufacturing and process industries have allowed us to quickly identify opportunities for improvement across all areas of business - and this includes public sector service improvement.
Our knowledge and experience has enabled us to transfer skills and share best practice across many different sectors. We have demonstrated that the better, quicker, cheaper' core principles of lean are equally effective in a hospital, scientific laboratory, police force, council offices or housing association.
It is our belief that the key to driving change and public sector service improvementis in the active engagement of people. No matter what the situation, our solutions-driven approach, validated toolkit and considerable expertise have produced astonishing results in a relatively short space of time. This has enabled laboratories to deal effectively with increased demand, police forces to streamline back room processes and housing associations to massively reduce their void time and meet targets which at first might have seemed unattainable.
Results
We believe that cost reduction can only be achieved through the radical redesign of processes aimed at delivering exceptional levels of customer service. These are just a few examples of what we've achieved in the public sector:
- 55% reduction in void cycle times for Wirral Partnership Housing
- 84% improvement in lead times at South Tees Hospital Trust
We are astonished at the scale of improvements they helped us to identify in a very short space of time. Their approach is refreshing, professional and enthusiastic. They challenged current procedures and have an ability to find new ways of working, which has given us a roadmap to deliver the results we need to take us forward
Dr Steve Duncan, Divisional Manager, Pathology - South Tees NHS Trust
Having been inspired by the success of Lean Thinking within the manufacturing sector, we recognised that the principles and processes were equally transferable to our business environment. The picme team brought with them a good balance of manufacturing and service sector knowledge and experience and quickly understood the business processes which underpin our services.
Brian Simpson, Chief Executive, Wirral Partnership Homes
For a more indepth view of how picme can help your business take a look at our case studies.
Sectors We Have Helped
