Elective care capacity and staffing
Flow
Which approved treatments should use each dated theatre and clinic session, and which qualified staff and paid cover should deliver that care, to complete the most care at the lowest payable staffing cost?
- Share of the session booked
- Agency cover
- Recommended change
- 01
Theatre 4, Thursday afternoonDecision now
Two slots open, three approved patients ready
- Exposure
- $48kCare contribution
- Expected effect
- +$31k to $44kCompleted care
Fill from the waiting listTheatre manager, by 14:00
- 02
Ward 7, next week’s nightsAwaiting approval
Agency booked while bank shifts sit open
- Exposure
- $36kPaid cover
- Expected effect
- $18kAgency cost avoided
Offer the shifts to bank staffStaffing bureau, 48 hours
- 03
Clinic 2, Friday afternoonHeld
Low demand against a full paid session
- Exposure
- $12kPaid cover
- Expected effect
- $6kPaid cost avoided
Consolidate with Clinic 5Outpatients lead. Patient choice pending
- Exposure ranked
- $96k
- Care contribution
- $31k to $44k
- Paid cost avoided
- $24k
Illustrative figures. Not client results.
Why current systems fall short.
- Session schedules, waiting lists, rosters and agency bookings sit in separate systems, so no one sees the care plan and its paid cover together.
- Sessions are filled or released late because patient readiness and case durations are not forecast.
- Premium cover is booked shift by shift, without comparing bank, overtime and agency against the care it supports.
- Freed theatre time is reported as a saving even when no extra care is completed and no payable cost falls.
The records it reads.
Each system remains the authority for its own data. The engine reconciles identities, units and dates at each decision cutoff and flags any conflict.
- 01Waiting list and patient administration
- 02Theatre and clinic session schedules
- 03Patient record and pre-operative readiness
- 04Rostering, bank and agency bookings
- 05Payroll, staffing contracts and cancellation terms
- 06Billing and service-line finance
What each part of the engine does.
Forecasts are settled before the options are scored. Permissions and hard constraints always take priority.
| Component | Responsibility | Effect on the decision |
|---|---|---|
| Machine learning | Forecast which patients will be ready and attend, how long each case and list will run, short-notice cancellations and sickness, and how likely each open shift is to be filled from each source of cover. | Sets the forecast used to compare the options |
| Rules and constraints | Apply clinical approval, priority and patient choice, minimum cover and skill mix, rest rules, minimum paid hours and cancellation terms, and provide the fallback when a model cannot be used. | Removes actions that are not allowed or not feasible |
| Optimisation | Choose the whole plan of sessions and cover across theatres, clinics and wards, counting each shared worker and payment once. | Chooses the set of actions to take |
Actions it recommends.
Each recommendation names the action, its target, owner and deadline, the constraints it respects and the evidence that confirms completion.
- 01Retain or fill a named session with ready, clinically approved patients
- 02Resequence a list to fit forecast case durations
- 03Consolidate two low-demand sessions, or release one with notice
- 04Cover a shift from regular, bank, overtime or agency staff
- 05Cancel paid cover within its contractual terms
- 06Hold a session or shift until a set review time, with a trigger
How value is measured
Counts only extra completed care contribution or a real fall in payable staffing cost, measured against the current planning policy. Each shared worker or payment is counted once. Freed time, unchanged salaried pay and care moved within the network earn nothing.
How it runs in your operation.
The engine runs in a dedicated AWS account or your own infrastructure, connects to your systems and uses models calibrated on your records.
- Scope
- Every dated theatre and clinic session, with its qualified cover
- Value
- Extra completed care or lower payable staffing cost, each counted once
- Approval
- Clinical and staffing leads approve every change before it is issued
What the opportunity assessment checks.
Can session, waiting-list and staffing history improve the plan for care and cover, and can finance verify the result as extra completed care or lower payable cost?
What we need to see
- Sessions, lists, patients and cover joined to one plan for each date
- History of readiness, cancellations, case durations and shift fill
- Staffing contracts, rates and cancellation terms for bank, overtime and agency
- Named theatre, workforce and finance owners with authority to act
When we would advise stopping
- Sessions and paid cover cannot be reconciled to the same plan
- Clinical and staffing constraints leave no feasible change to the plan
- Finance cannot verify the care contribution or staffing cost outcome
Assess this decision in your operation.
The opportunity assessment looks at your historical records, the actions available, who has authority to act and the value at stake, before a pilot begins.
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