Münster. Hospital 4.0 and the digitisation of hospital logistics were the central topics at this year’s med.Logistica fair. Leipzig was the venue where logistics companies, hospital and care facilities as well as producers of medical products came together. Fiege Healthcare was present with its own booth on two days, 17th and 18th May respectively. We spoke with Stefan Kepp, regional manager for hospital logistics at Fiege Healthcare, about trends and developments in the sector.
The central topic at the med.Logistica 2017 was Hospital 4.0. What could such a hospital look like and which challenges does it impose on hospital logistics?
Hospital 4.0 is the response to a tremendous lack of specialists and the wish to have more time for the individual patient. Part of the Hospital 4.0 concept is to create a stronger bond between man and any existing, or new, IT systems. These IT systems then need to be tied closely to logistics, to achieve a faster, more custom-fit supply of patients. One key word here is, for example, the digital patient file. The future challenge lies almost certainly in merging the underlying IT of logistics providers even more efficiently with the hospital.
How is Fiege Healthcare adapting to this trend?
Our Germany-wide hospital and homecare network already places us in an excellent position in relation to digitisation. The tight interconnection with our customers allows us to seamlessly supply patients at wards, but also at home. Currently, Fiege Healthcare is the sole provider offering this service, of which we are very proud. The goal for the future is to continue to invest in expanding the digital infrastructure, to be able to respond even better to patients and their needs. We wish to guarantee a reliable service for our customers in the long run and that will only be possible if we are consistently up to date.
What were your personal highlights at the med.Logistica 2017?
I would clearly count the exchange with our customers as one of the highlights. The med.Logistica is an excellent platform to engage in a personal exchange about the latest trends and products. This year, it was extremely exciting to hear what customers had to say about Hospital 4.0 and learn about their respective intra-company approach to this. To successfully implement all aspects of digitisation, it must become a fixed element of the strategy. During its implementation, it is also crucial that processes are adapted continuously to the new possibilities that IT has to offer, and that man is taken along. This is the only way to ensure that Hospital 4.0 becomes a successful concept.
