Table Box 2.

Process mapping

• Identify a process – Where does it start? Where does it end? (e.g. the process of coming for an out‐patient appointment, from the moment the patient walks through the door of the hospital to the moment they leave).

• Identify all the steps in the patient's journey through the system, from the patient's perspective (including times when they are waiting, or moving from one department to another) and which members of staff are involved at which points.

• Understand where there are delays, duplication or potential for errors – for example, where responsibility for a patient passes from one member of staff to another (sometimes known as a ‘hand‐off’) the risk of mistakes or lost information increases.

• Analyse which steps in the process add value to the patient and which do not, always coming back to the questions ‘Why do we do this? What does it add for the patient?’