🇦🇺Australia

Operationsausfälle durch Bestandsengpässe und Fehlbestände

Updated: Feb 20265 verified sources

Definition

Australia’s healthcare logistics face long distances, high import dependence and complex supply chains, so stockouts directly threaten continuity of care.[1][2][6][10] The Therapeutic Goods Administration monitors and reports medical device supply disruptions nationally, confirming that stock disruptions for critical devices are a recurring systemic issue.[10] In hospitals without integrated supply chain systems linking OR schedules to inventory, nurses often discover shortages only during case set‑up, forcing postponement of elective surgeries. Case‑picking functionality, such as that in Omnicell’s SupplyXpert, is marketed specifically to ensure availability of the right supplies and prevent procedure cancellations.[3] Internationally, even a small number of avoidable cancellations per week due to missing consumables can create significant capacity loss: if an Australian hospital loses 2–3 elective cases per week at an average revenue of AUD 8,000–12,000 per case, this equals AUD 0.8–1.5m per year in lost surgical throughput, plus overtime and rescheduling costs.

Key Findings

Financial Impact: Quantified (logic-based): Assume 2 elective surgeries per week (≈100 per year) cancelled or downgraded due to missing supplies, at net margin/revenue contribution of AUD 8,000–12,000 per case. Lost revenue capacity: AUD 0.8–1.2m per hospital per year, excluding overtime and administrative rework.
Frequency: Intermittent but persistent; spikes during global or national supply disruptions (e.g., pandemics, recalls) and during supplier changes.[1][4][10]
Root Cause: Lack of real‑time inventory visibility at theatre level; manual par level reviews; no integration between OR scheduling and inventory systems; high dependence on imports with long lead times; limited proactive monitoring of TGA‑reported device shortages.[1][3][6][8][10]

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Chirurgische Abteilungen in Australien 🇦🇺 verlieren Hunderttausende AUD pro Jahr durch kurzfristige OP‑Absagen wegen fehlender Instrumente oder Verbrauchsmaterialien. Echtzeit‑Bestandsmanagement und integrierte Bedarfsplanung mit OP‑Plänen verringern Ausfälle und erhöhen den nutzbaren OP‑Output.