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The hidden life saver? Unattended locker box logistics for faster and more efficient hospital supply

The hidden life saver? Unattended locker box logistics for faster and more efficient hospital supply
The hidden life saver? Unattended locker box logistics for faster and more efficient hospital supply

The efficient flow of goods into hospitals is disrupted by the presence of time critical (urgent) items in the chain encouraging sub-optimal vehicle fleet operations. Furthermore, the fast delivery of such items can often become stalled by the transition between the external and internal supply chains, leading to duplicate ordering. These issues result in increased volumes of hospital-related traffic and a delay in the delivery of care to patients. An unattended electronic locker bank, comprising individual lockable boxes to which different urgent items can be delivered is proposed as a potential solution with the aims of: separating urgent and non-urgent goods in the chain, thereby enabling consolidation of non-urgent consignments; and, bypassing the traditional route of supply. The feasibility of this concept was tested in the context of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London using a database of consignment movements to assess physical requirements of the locker bank, using a hill climbing optimization technique; and, qualitatively using interviews with key members of staff. Results of the quantitative analysis indicated that a locker bank measuring 3.33m (10.93ft.) in length, 1.7m (5.58ft.) height and 0.8m (2.62ft.) depth, comprising of 11 partitions would be required to accommodate 100% of all urgent consignments passing into the hospital during a typical week. Staff perceptions of the locker bank concept were largely positive suggesting the locker box could improve the speed and quality of healthcare delivered to patients
Bailey, Gavin
b5be6ab7-45fa-4176-a9ea-84bef64ab631
Cherrett, Tom
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Waterson, Ben
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Long, Robert
b66f75ce-4c85-46ff-bd32-d63a8356a724
Bailey, Gavin
b5be6ab7-45fa-4176-a9ea-84bef64ab631
Cherrett, Tom
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Waterson, Ben
60a59616-54f7-4c31-920d-975583953286
Long, Robert
b66f75ce-4c85-46ff-bd32-d63a8356a724

Bailey, Gavin, Cherrett, Tom, Waterson, Ben and Long, Robert (2013) The hidden life saver? Unattended locker box logistics for faster and more efficient hospital supply. 92nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, , Washington, United States. 13 - 17 Jan 2013. 13 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract


The efficient flow of goods into hospitals is disrupted by the presence of time critical (urgent) items in the chain encouraging sub-optimal vehicle fleet operations. Furthermore, the fast delivery of such items can often become stalled by the transition between the external and internal supply chains, leading to duplicate ordering. These issues result in increased volumes of hospital-related traffic and a delay in the delivery of care to patients. An unattended electronic locker bank, comprising individual lockable boxes to which different urgent items can be delivered is proposed as a potential solution with the aims of: separating urgent and non-urgent goods in the chain, thereby enabling consolidation of non-urgent consignments; and, bypassing the traditional route of supply. The feasibility of this concept was tested in the context of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London using a database of consignment movements to assess physical requirements of the locker bank, using a hill climbing optimization technique; and, qualitatively using interviews with key members of staff. Results of the quantitative analysis indicated that a locker bank measuring 3.33m (10.93ft.) in length, 1.7m (5.58ft.) height and 0.8m (2.62ft.) depth, comprising of 11 partitions would be required to accommodate 100% of all urgent consignments passing into the hospital during a typical week. Staff perceptions of the locker bank concept were largely positive suggesting the locker box could improve the speed and quality of healthcare delivered to patients

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More information

Published date: January 2013
Venue - Dates: 92nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, , Washington, United States, 2013-01-13 - 2013-01-17
Organisations: Transportation Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 348563
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/348563
PURE UUID: 1b57850c-59bc-47f4-924b-4e573cc84eca
ORCID for Tom Cherrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0394-5459
ORCID for Ben Waterson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9817-7119

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Feb 2013 11:12
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:58

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Contributors

Author: Gavin Bailey
Author: Tom Cherrett ORCID iD
Author: Ben Waterson ORCID iD
Author: Robert Long

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