6 Possible Reasons Healthcare Construction Projects Fail

Healthcare businesses are one of the most crucial and essential parts of people’s lives. Without them, staying healthy and managing health conditions would be impossible. Because of their importance and demand, healthcare business owners aim to improve the quality of their services to benefit patients.

Planning a healthcare project is a rigorous and extensive process for hospitals. Usually, they undergo hospital expansion plans to accommodate more patients and adapt better technological services for treatment. Planning ‌construction projects like an expansion plan takes years to finalise, review, and improve. On top of that, the execution of the project would usually take years, depending on its complexity.

Unfortunately, not all healthcare construction projects succeed. Many great plans fail due to reasons affecting the project’s success rate. In this post, let’s learn why some healthcare construction projects never see the light of day.

1 - Ununited board leaders.

In healthcare facilities like hospitals, stakeholders make decisions and implementations that the hospital follows. The governing board directors in the hospital are also stakeholders that manage, oversee, and create strategic solutions that will best serve the premises. They’re the ones that have the power to give the go-signal for a project, and they’re also the ones with the authority to order it to stop.

One of the reasons that happens is contradicting opinions between ‌board leaders. If the board is not united, there will likely be various issues about the project, where others would vote it out while others are in favour. Sadly, it’s also one of the causes of delays in project plans. 

2 - Miscommunications and misunderstandings on project plans.

This second point somehow relates to the first point. There are many instances when the team that handles the project have miscommunications with other offices. Unfortunately, a lapse in minor details could alter the overall result of the project, making it unsuccessful. 

Miscommunications happen when another team overlooks a point in the project. It could happen during email exchanges, revisals of the plan, and verbal updates about the project. When both parties start having misunderstandings, it’s challenging to move forward with the project because of personal differences, making it uncomfortable to relay details about the new plans.

3 - Incompatibility of the hospital structure to the construction plans.

There are many cases when a hospital or healthcare facility decides to expand or renovate properties. Usually, when they plan a construction project, they opt for renovation or expansion because tearing down the entire structure is more costly and time-consuming. But one of the downsides of a renovation is the incompatibility of the hospital structure with the construction plans.

Unfortunately, there are scenarios when construction is ongoing, but the new systems and design have complications with the existing building’s system. When that happens, the hospital will have more complicated issues that could put the project at risk. When that happens, construction delays happen, or worse, cause lapses in hospital operations.

4 - Inconsistencies and complications in hospital timelines.

I mentioned in my introduction that healthcare facilities are one of the most essential businesses in life. And since their demand is always high, the timeline and availability of specific departments and offices in the hospital can be unpredictable. 

One is the need for more health workers, a sudden increase in inpatient demands, or changes in the hospital management board. Because of those inconsistencies and complications in a hospital’s timeline, construction projects fail to move forward because the hospital needs to prioritise more critical schedules.

5 - Limited project budget availability.

When proposing a healthcare construction project, the authors have already computed the estimated expenses of the hospital. However, if a hospital should take out a loan or request financial support from its business partners and shareholders, budget concerns could happen. 

Unfortunately, the project won’t likely see the light of day if a hospital faces limited budget concerns. After all, pursuing a project despite budget problems could put the hospital in harm. It could only cause them unnecessary loans and debts that could put the healthcare business in jeopardy.

6 - Lack of follow-through from project partners.

When undergoing a construction project, the hospital and other healthcare facilities would have to work with various businesses to ensure the feasibility and success of the project. Unfortunately, problems could happen if their project partners lack follow-through with the project despite the incredible teamwork, effort, and hard work of the hospital management.

Managing a construction project won’t be successful if the project partners you work with do not deliver and do their part accordingly. Sadly, scenarios like this are one of the ultimate reasons hospitals and healthcare businesses suddenly change business partners. The truth is, it’s not only the construction project that will be at risk with this but also the hospital’s operations and services.

How to avoid project failures?

It’s difficult to answer how healthcare businesses like hospitals could prevent project failures. But finding the right business partners, preparing the budget before implementation, checking the structure’s condition and issues, and creating a detailed plan are some of the things that will prevent any failures from happening.

Written by Bianca Banda