In connection with the T3 hospital project of Turku University Hospital (Tyks), the project aimed to improve the use of information in planning for maintenance of the hospital property. More efficient planning will result in cost savings – and better quality of care.

What kind of problem did this project try to solve?

T3 hospital, the new building of Turku University Hospital (Tyks) is set to be completed in the late summer of 2021. In connection with the T3 hospital project, the planning of the hospital’s maintenance information was assessed and developed. Maintenance refers to such activities as servicing and cleaning of the property.

Currently, service charts used by hospital maintenance information management are created as 2D material, either as PDF files or on paper. For this reason, information content cannot be connected, searched or visualised easily.

This leads to mistakes in estimating the capacity of the premises when servicing measures are being planned. This, in turn, results in disturbances in patient care. Scheduling breaks in the activities for which the premises were built and transferring these activities elsewhere also results in extra costs. Meanwhile, dialogue between the various parties is difficult when the information content is not available in one easily accessible place.

Objective: compiling different information in a single database and in an electronic format

The objective of the project was to enable information on service areas, usage times, clean room classifications and the purposes of premises to be collected into a single database in the future. In addition, it should be possible to use location data to generate visualisations with a data model linked to search results from the compilation database.

This would boost the efficiency of planning and execution of maintenance activities, creating cost savings. The quality of care work would similarly improve with better management of the operating environment. Data model material would be used when inducting technical and care staff into their tasks. This would make it quicker to become familiar with the operating environment, improving performance.

The project aimed to gain practical experiences in the management and creation of data content, ranging from data models to databases, to satisfy maintenance information needs. Transferring planning information to the property’s maintenance function was a great challenge. The project’s scope was limited so as to gain results from the selected usage case quickly and to apply the results in practice.

The project’s results will be shared with other hospital districts and, more broadly, with the rest of the field. The project provided the foundation for a more extensive follow-up project that will be joined by other parties.

Who benefits?

People responsible for hospital maintenance and planning maintenance activities, care staff and patients. The experiences gained in the project are also beneficial on a national level, especially in the management of healthcare and social services assets.

Assessment and design of maintenance information in the T3 hospital project
Duration: 17 March–20 October 2017
Implemented by: Hospital District of Southwest Finland and Turku University Hospital (Tyks)
Partner: Gravicon Oy

Contact information

Timo Seppälä, T3 Project Director
Tel: +358 40 739 0173
Email: timo.seppala(at)tyks.fi