ANLY482 AY2016-17 T2 Group23 Silver Daisies Project Overview
Contents
Business Problem
SSP hopes to optimise their Medical Escort and Transport Services (MET), targeted towards homebound clients. The MET is currently faces a manpower constraint, as 1 nurse has to accompany the client for the medical appointment/treatment. While the nurse may handle multiple clients at a hospital, it is dependent on the client’s medical appointment/treatment schedule. As such, SSP hopes to earn healthy surpluses while satisfying the client’s needs, possibly through efficient allocation of resources. Also, SSP hopes to further understand the needs of their clients and what they can do to reach out to more clients who may require such assistance.
Motivation
The ageing population and rising burden of chronic diseases has transformed the way our healthcare industry is. Care should be brought closer to the patients. Hence, the team recognizes the significance of the Medical Escort and Transport Services (MET), which is targeted towards homebound clients who are unable to travel to medical appointments/treatments independently, and have no suitable caregiver to take them to medical appointments/treatments. In hopes to make a positive impact on the ageing community, our group has genuine interest to take on this project. Through this project, we hope to put what we have learnt into practice and further improve ourselves through the valuable feedbacks and guidance received.
Objective
- Improve efficiency of current operations
- Understanding needs of clients of MET scheme
- Evaluate the need to increase capacity to meet potential rise in demand for MET services
Methodology
Improve efficiency of current operations
The team would first like to gain a better understanding of how the MET operates. This can be achieved by observing the daily operations of MET, such as scheduling of transport for clients, actual transportation process, current system to allocate manpower (drivers and nurses), and how the route taken is selected.
Understanding needs of clients of MET scheme
The team will evaluate the current success of MET scheme by looking into the demand and current profiles of clients. This is so that we can identify the characteristics of their current clients, and further understand what can be done to reach out to other clients who may require such assistance. For example, we may look into variables such as medical conditions, age or subsidies scheme.
Evaluate the need to increase capacity to meet potential rise in demand for MET services
The team will first evaluate current capacity by analyzing the current fleet of vehicles and current number of employees. By conducting time-series analysis on the demand of MET service, we seek to forecast the optimal capacity for the future.
Data
Statistical Software
- SAS
- JMP
- Tableau
Metadata
As of writing, Silver Daisies has yet to receive the data. . However, data regarding the clients of MET, the vehicles used for transportation and information of drivers will be made available to the team.
