Tertiary services such as laundry, food services, catering and internal logistics represent a significant cost factor in hospitals, yet they are often overlooked strategically. At the same time, these areas offer substantial potential to improve efficiency, quality and organisational resilience. Modern healthcare consulting therefore treats tertiary services as an integral part of hospital strategy and digital transformation.
Tertiary Services as a Strategic Lever
Laundry, food services and other support functions are essential for daily hospital operations. They are characterised by:
- high labour and energy consumption
- complex interfaces with clinical departments
- historically grown processes
- limited transparency regarding costs and performance
Without strategic management, inefficiencies directly impact economic performance and service quality.
Digitalisation as an Enabler, Not an End in Itself
Digital solutions only create value when embedded into clear processes and target operating models. In tertiary services, digitalisation enables:
- transparent performance and cost KPIs
- digital order and volume management
- interfaces with clinical IT systems
- data-based decision-making for sourcing strategies
Successful digitalisation projects therefore start with process and organisational analysis, not with technology selection.
Project Management as the Key to Implementation
Optimisation and digitalisation initiatives in hospitals are complex. Multiple stakeholders, ongoing operations and regulatory requirements make professional project management essential, including:
- clear objectives and governance structures
- robust planning of time, costs and resources
- active stakeholder involvement
- continuous controlling and risk management
Without structured project management, many initiatives fail to deliver sustainable results.
Cost Optimisation with a Sustainable Approach
Sustainable cost optimisation in tertiary services goes beyond simple cost cutting. It is based on:
- transparent cost and performance analysis
- benchmarking of in-house versus outsourced services
- optimisation of processes, layouts and organisation
- sound business case calculations
This approach ensures economic improvements that remain operationally viable.
DSC-Consult: Strategy and Management Consulting for Hospitals
DSC-Consult supports hospitals in the strategic development and optimisation of tertiary services – from analysis and target definition through to implementation. Our focus lies on digitalisation, project management and economic steering of complex healthcare organisations.
Careers in Healthcare Consulting
To deliver these projects, we are expanding our team. Professionals with an interest in healthcare consulting, digital transformation and project management will find challenging assignments, responsibility and professional development opportunities at DSC-Consult.