Towards a new health care paradigm. Patient-focused care. The case of Kingston Hospital Trust.

Patient-focused care (PFC) and business process re-engineering (BPR) have been advocated in the academic literature as techniques to improve both quality of service and reduce costs. Seeks to separate and delineate the components of PFC and BPR and, using the case study method, describe the adoption and implementation process of PFC in medicine and maternity by one London NHS Trust Hospital. Reports the impact of this innovation on service delivery, staff reconfiguration and multi-skilling. Identifies preconditions and key success factors and indicates lessons for the future.