With clever logistics, healthcare will come to you
As much as 70 to 80 percent of the processes in healthcare are logistic processes. Patients going from A to B or goods being moved. ‘The health sector itself takes care of this, but it is not part of their core tasks’, says Huub Zijlstra, sector manager Health at PostNL. ‘We can save the patient and the healthcare sector a lot of time if we separate care from logistics and services.’
Huub sees several major trends in the healthcare sector. ‘New technologies and innovations will make more possible. We also have more data than ever at our disposable. And patients themselves want to see changes. At present, healthcare is something that ‘happens’ to the patient, but they are becoming more mature and are demanding more. Patients are now asking themselves: when do I get some control over my healthcare process?’
To follow these developments, healthcare parties should enter into new partnerships, says Zijlstra. ‘They don’t have to figure out everything themselves but can join what is already there. PostNL can optimise flows to and from the hospital. In fact, we already do this: we take care of the delivery of screenings, delivering intake sets to the consumer and the diagnostic returns to the lab. And we also deliver medical devices at home. Even into people’s homes if they are infirm or ill and need a helping hand. We also deliver medicines to the patient under controlled conditions, such as at the right temperature and within the required timeframes. So, we already deliver healthcare at home, but we see room for improvement. Together we can guarantee the quality of healthcare, while also serving the patient even better.’
In 2018 PostNL started a health team to provide a faster and more effective response to changes in the healthcare sector. The team focusses on four domains: Pharma, Medical devices, Diagnostics and Personal Care.
Going forward, we will focus on:
In 2018 PostNL started a health team to provide a faster and more effective response to changes in the healthcare sector. The team focusses on four domains: Pharma, Medical devices, Diagnostics and Personal Care.
Going forward, we will focus on:
