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

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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Identifiers

ORCID for Tom Cherrett: orcid.org/0000-0003-0394-5459

ORCID for Ben Waterson: orcid.org/0000-0001-9817-7119

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