Author: Nadia Volpe
The healthcare industry is facing its fair share of challenges while keeping up with the pace of change.
Gregorio Uglioni and Natalie Galeczki, are both seasoned leaders in digital transformation. In their previous roles, they’d spearheaded efforts to modernise healthcare at the Kantonsspital Winterthur, one of Switzerland’s major hospitals.
We had the opportunity to speak with them and gained invaluable insights on how digital transformation is reshaping healthcare, addressing both the challenges and opportunities in this critical sector.
Healthcare is not a product
Let’s zoom out for a minute and assess a few dilemmas from the root. One of the inherent challenges of healthcare stems from the fact that it’s not simply a product. In sectors like banking or insurance, products and services can be easily changed or improved with technology and efficiency in mind. However, in healthcare, the “product” is human health- something deeply personal and irreplaceable. When we talk about health, it’s not just a service but rather a matter of human centricity and time. Unlike financial services where time can be saved or spent, our health is unique, we have only one life, and the time we have in this world is finite. Therefore, we need to invest time in our health.
A Societal Responsibility
Another issue that the healthcare industry must tackle is that their transformation faces societal and demographic pressures. With rapidly aging populations comes an increase in both physical and psychological conditions. Hospitals, especially in countries like Switzerland, are very much struggling to keep up with demand. As Natalie pointed out, the transformation in healthcare is not only about improving services but about addressing a broader societal responsibility.
Why Private Sector Skills Are Crucial for Healthcare
Both Gregorio and Natalie come from industries outside healthcare, including telco/tech and finance. They highlight how skills from these sectors can be crucial in transforming healthcare. “Why would people from hospitality, banking, insurance, from the private sector rather to even look at the health industry?” asks Gregorio. The reason, as he goes on to explain, is that this fast-paced, customer-centric approach from the private sector is really needed to drive change in a traditionally slow-moving public sector. To achieve these goals, Gregorio and Natalie opt for a strategy of small, continuous improvements.
“We are shifting from a doctor-centric to a human-centric approach”
A key focus of the transformation at Kantonsspital Winterthur is improving the patient journey. Traditionally, hospitals have been more focused on operational metrics such as the number of surgeries performed, stitch count, or how quickly doctors complete procedures. While these are all of course important, these metrics do not capture the patient’s experience. This is equally significant to understand, especially when going back to the very first point mentioned.
To tackle this, Kantonsspital Winterthur is one of the first hospitals in Switzerland to use a 360-feedback approach for all stakeholders.
This incentive has been in place for the past three two years and has repeatedly delivered successful results. By implementing feedback systems like the Net Promoter Score (NPS), the hospital has been able to prioritise the needs of patients, employees, and other stakeholders, gaining a more holistic view of healthcare delivery.
Agile in Healthcare Transformation: Small Changes, Big Impact
Rather than going down the road of long-term, big projects, Kantonsspital Winterthur prefers agile thinking; encouraging small, incremental changes to achieve big impacts. Over the last three years, the business transformation team has grown from four people to 20, and they have implemented several core projects, including a major upgrade to the hospital’s clinical information system.
“We think and we are convinced that a lot of small changes have a much bigger impact than one big change.”
This kind of approach is more effective in a hospital setting, where staff are busy delivering immediate care and cannot be distracted by large-scale projects that take years to implement. By instead working towards continuous, manageable improvements, they are able to ensure steady progress without overwhelming the system.
Bridging the gap in Healthcare Leadership
The gap between traditional healthcare leadership and the modern, agile approach advocated is proving to be a big challenge. Many leaders in healthcare are accustomed to hierarchical, military-style management- a system that has been in place for decades. This style, while effective in some areas, can be a barrier to nurturing the empathetic, collaborative environment necessary for modern healthcare.
“We are speaking about servant leadership, empathy, and a new way of working,” Gregorio mentions. Bridging this generational and cultural gap is important for the future of healthcare, but it’s a slow and challenging process. Workshops with clinical staff, for example, can be difficult to coordinate, as doctors and nurses are often called away for emergencies or simply exhausted from their shifts. The key is to engage healthcare workers in a way that respects their time and focuses on their core mission – patient care.
In conclusion…
Healthcare transformation is a complex process that perhaps requires cross-industry expertise, a patient-focused approach, and a commitment to continuous, small-scale improvements. The progress made by Kantonsspital Winterthur proves that thoughtful, incremental changes can greatly benefit both patients and healthcare providers.
