The Virginia Mason Institute in Seattle will be working with five, acute-care hospitals in England to train staff in its lean production system, a methodology that both saves money and improves patient care and safety, according to Virginia Mason.
Lean is a system of standardizing procedures to eliminate waste and control costs.
The Virginia Mason Institute, part of the Virginia Mason Health System, will be working with five hospitals within England's National Health Service Trust Development Authority, Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt announced July 16.
The goal, Hunt said, is to make England's health care system one of the world's safest and to help the country's patients "see real benefits."
The National Health Service is expected to send staff to Seattle this fall for training prior to Virginia Mason training staff across the pond.
Virginia Mason Institute will be working with five hospitals within the trust: Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals; Leeds Teaching Hospitals; Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital; Surrey and Sussex Healthcare; and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire.
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The Virginia Mason Institute, created in 2008, is known for its work providing education, training and coaching to healthcare organizations. It has worked with more than 5,000 healthcare professionals on site in Seattle and worldwide, according to the Institute.
It has adopted a system of continuous improvement to produce dramatic improvements in patient care, it stated. Experts are rigorously trained in Virginia Mason's lean production system.
"In all of our work," said Diane Miller, the institute's executive director, "we help leaders discover innovative ways to put the patient first."
Hunt visited Virginia Mason in 2014, and announced the intent to reduce incidents of avoidable patient harm by half, according to a published source.
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN