Using modelling and simulation to improve elderly care in ireland: A case study

Health care services are encountering critical issues due to the increasing demand for services at the time of economic recession. Hospital performance is subject to many constraints, and planning is made more difficult by the complexity and uncertainty of demand. Population ageing is creating immense pressures on healthcare facilities across the world, leaving them struggling to cope with the growing demand for elderly healthcare services. Current demand-supply gapsresult in prolonged waiting times for patients and substantial cost burdens for healthcare systems due to delayed discharges. This paper discusses on a project that uses modelling and simulation to address elderly care pathways in the Irish healthcare sector. The faster management of frail patients admitted to acute hospitals and the introduction of 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. Using a detailed simulation model along with statistical analysis, hospital managers can assess the critical performance and financial issues of the current system and highlight the decision variables that could significantly improve the flow of elderly patients.