Shouldice Hospital Limited

Shouldice Hospital is a great firm, it had witnessed a huge success during the years, yet their main problem is that even when they increase capacity they are still operating at full operating capacity almost all year; they aren't sure they can meet demand if they expand capacity in the future. They have a serious problem when it comes to predicting future demand.

Shouldice Hospital could increase their capacity by launching a new location in another major city, be it in Canada or the United States; this will be very costly, taking into account all the expenses they will endure such as, rent, labour, and new equipments. Another alternative is building a new floor in the current location, but this might be rejected by the provincial government due to certain provincial regulations. One of the best alternatives they are considering is to start doing surgeries on Saturdays; although Dr. Obney (Chief Surgeon) is opposed to this idea because he won't be available in the hospital during Saturdays, thus, won't be able to maintain control; there are many young doctors and some senior doctors who consider the idea to be good; doing surgeries on Saturdays will increase capacity by 20%.

Doctors should start operating on Saturdays, with the 20% capacity increase; Shouldice Hospital would be able to sense whether this amount of increase is enough or not. Economically, this will cost them nothing more than the surgeries' costs. Doctors and nurses will still be paid their regular salary, and doctors will not leave their patients who went under the knife on Fridays for the whole weekend; they will check on them on Saturdays. This is an important part of the Shouldice Identity; they are a focused service delivery system that cares for its customers. From Exhibit 3, we can see that the customers have placed a huge %72.07 importance for the "Physician's Care" attribute, if a doctor is unavailable for the whole weekend; I believe the patient will be very dissatisfied with the service provided. If demand exceeds capacity, Shouldice Hospital should start thinking about building the new floor which will increase capacity by 50%.

Since Dr. Obney (65-year-old) is about to retire, Dr. Shouldice should appoint a new Chief Surgeon who agrees with doing operations on Saturdays, he should be one of the senior doctors, this will prevent controversy among the organization since the Chief Surgeon himself/herself