This report documents a process mapping exercise conducted at Torbay Hospital
and subsequent process improvement exercise, forming the initial stage of a
Business Process Re-engineering programme.
The report reviews pertinent research, concluding that whilst BPR exercises
continue to be a popular method of facilitating efficiency gains, few hospitals
seem to report the success of their programme or methodologies. As such, every
hospital starts the programme from square one.
The report therefore documents the methodology employed for data collection,
as well as the options for representing the data, once collected; IDEF 3 is
recommended as the most appropriate means. The thesis then discusses the
tactics involved in running a BPR exercise in the Endoscopy Unit of Torbay
Hospital and details subsequent recommendations for improvement.