Finding a Balance between "Value Added" and Feeling Valued: Revising Models of Care

Growing demand from clients waiting to access vital services in a healthcare sector under economic constraint, coupled with the pressure for ongoing improvement within a multifaceted organization, can have a significant impact on the front-line staff, who are essential to the successful implementation of any quality improvement initiative. The Lean methodology is a management system for continuous improvement based on the Toyota Production System; it focuses on two main themes: respect for people and the elimination of waste or non-value-added activities. Within the Lean process, valueadded is used to describe any activity that contributes directly to satisfying the needs of the client, and non-value-added refers to any activity that takes time, space or resources but does not contribute directly to satisfying client needs.