One-stop cholecystectomy clinic: an application of lean thinking--can it improve the outcomes?

Lean thinking principles were utilised to set up 'One-stop cholecystectomy clinics' at which patients underwent the surgical and the preoperative assessment during the same visit. The main aims were to reduce the number of patient hospital visits, preoperative admissions and the waiting time to surgery. The results showed a significant reduction in the number of patient visits as well as the waiting time to surgery thus highlighting that patientcare can be improved by good team working and lean management.