Capacity Planning for Elderly Care in Ireland Using Simluation Modeling

Global population aging is creating an immense pressure on healthcare facilities making them unable to cope with the growing demand for elderly healthcare services. Current demand-supply gaps result in prolonged waiting times for patients and substantial cost burdens for healthcare systems due to delayed discharges. This paper describes a project aimed at presenting modeling and simulation to address elderly care pathways within the Irish healthcare sector. The management of frail patients admitted to acute hospitals and the introduction of the new intermediate care beds are alternative interventions that healthcare executives are interested in simulating to examine their impact on the performance of the elderly care system. The developed simulation model, along with the statistical analysis, have enabled the management to assess the current system under the critical financial and performance issues. It also highlights the decision variables that significantly improve the flow of elderly patients.