Marketing Concepts Applied On West Hertfordshire Hospital

Product and Market Focus

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Marketing concepts applied on West Hertfordshire Hospital:

West Hertfordshire Hospital: ManagementTherefore the market focus is to cover whole country and to serve the people with the best service. The product objectives on the other hand are to offer variety of medical assistance for different parts of body including heart, lungs, ENT etc.

SMART objectives actually refer to assigning objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. This way the objectives become realistic and easy to be achieved through the joint effort of the team members of an organization. In the case of West Hertfordshire Hospital the SMART objectives can be identified as follows.

S-Specific Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	To meet the requirements of people in the region and around. To offer variety of medical services and assistance to the patients. To offer high value service at competitive costs. To improve quality of service.
M-Measurable	To achieve the target of 550,000 clients served in the hospital. To achieve the target of meeting requirements of twenty percent more number of clients in coming three years. To add safety and quality in the maternity services. To achieve a target growth of 0.64%. Offering emergency care with ninety five percent delivery at four hour standard. To bring in new equipment and technology within the end of the year. To offer heavy discounts on surgery and other medical treatment to the people.
A-Achievable	To achieve satisfaction of clients. To enhance quality and offer varied emergency service. To enhance the facilities offered in the hospital.To add new doctors and surgeons as per the requirements.
R-Relevant	To meet customer satisfaction. To upgrade technology. To enhance abilities to foster needs of many other clients.
T-Time bound	The technological enhancement to be achieved till year end. To upgrade the system within next three months. To enhance the ability to meet customer requirement by twenty percent year on year basis.

The Target market segmentation includes extending service to whole of the United Kingdom. This way with four thousand employees the hospital wants to cater the medical assistance for the patients from around the United Kingdom. Therefore the market segmentation is made in the following sense.

• Facilities for kids:

This includes services for infant and young kids. The services include proper care and vaccination of the children from the disease that affect them in tender age.

• Facilities for maternity.

The maternity facility includes pain less delivery and high qualified doctor assistance so that the patient can have a life time experience in having a baby. The food and other requirements are also offered to the patient in form of package.

• Facilities for old age.

The old age are provided with the facility so that they can continue to live their rest of life in lesser pain and more of respect.

• Facilities for general requirements:

The general requirements facility includes for all others who are not covered above. This facility includes services for young people who faces some health issues in the normal routine. Their conditions are properly diagnosed and offered the best service.

(Kotler & Gary, 2006)

The differentiation stands for offering better than other in the industry. The differentiation that the West Hertfordshire Hospital offers includes the followings.

• Best medical service.
   
• Best medical equipment to support the medical procedure.
   
• Offering patients with heavy discounts and competitive pricing of the medical facilities.
   
• Ability to serve more patients through the professional approach followed in the hospital.

These above stated facilities offer high end service to the patients coming to the facility. They are offered with professional environment and treatment from the best doctor and surgeon in the country. These features bring in differentiation in the facilities offered by the hospital than any other hospital in the region.

(Rao & Klein, 2004)

The positioning of the West Hertfordshire Hospital is done as the most efficient and effective hospital that provides highly cost effective and competitive service to its clients. This positing marketing activity has helped the hospital to gain recognition in the whole United Kingdom. The number of clients coming from various parts of the country has increased manifold in the last decade. This way positioning of the hospital as the best in class and service has helped in attracting clients from different places. Due to effective positioning the hospital has been able to achieve a target growth of 0.64% per annum and has been able to achieve satisfaction to more than half million people in the country.

SMART Objectives

The marketing mix consists of analysis of the business operation using the seven key features including 7Ps that are Product, Price, Promotion, Physical environment, Place, People, and Process. In case of West Hertfordshire Hospital, the 7Ps can be applied as follows.

Price	The pricing of the services is kept low and competitive in the hospital without affecting the quality output. The package system is offered to the customer so that the maximum of the benefit can be availed at low price. New services and facilities are offered at comparatively low price than other hospital in the industry.
Promotion	The positioning of the hospital is done as the best hospital with most professional outlook has achieved high end gains in terms of attracting more clients. he advertisement of the hospital through hoardings, pamphlets, media and newspaper has helped in making it popular among the masses.
Physical environment	The physical environment of the hospital is clean and green. The hospital is situated near no factory area where the pollution of any kind does not affect the medical procedures.
Place	The hospital is located in UK where the economy since the past few years has been passing through an intense recession. The result is that West Hertfordshire Hospital has been in need of immense expansion which has submerged it into an immense level of debt. Therefore the maintenance cost of the different medical apparatus is increasing, resulting in immense economic deprivation for the organization. The hospital offers website support to reach out to its customers around the country.
People	4000 employees in the hospital help in dealing with the population growth of the Hertfordshire in the recent years which has received an immense boost. West Hertfordshire Hospital emphasizes on the green trading and slashing down of the usage of carbon. Focus is mainly on the balance between the care of the patients and their family members in West Hertfordshire Hospital.
Product	Variety of services such as maternity, child, old age and general are offered in the hospital The hospital even offers high quality treatment and analysis using the high technological upgrades introduced from time to time.
Process	A purely professional process of dealing with the clients is followed in the hospital. The hospital offers target customers with the required facilities at competitive price. Research and development program on consistent level is followed in the hospital.

The financial data consists of the facts and figures about the business including sales, purchases, expenditures, income etc. The projections on the other hand are the estimates that are actually expected to be achieved in the coming years for the similar data as sales, purchases, expenditures, income etc.

The financial data and projection for the West Hertfordshire Hospital can be depicted as below.

1. Past sales revenue and other information:

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	2012/13 plan	2012/13 FOT*	Variance
	Current–Feb 13
Income	£000s	£000s	£000s
Clinical income	240,989	244,353	3,364
Nonâ€Âclinical income	3,832	4,370	538
Other income	26,696	27,979	1,283
TOTAL INCOME	271,517	276,702	5,185
Expenses
Pay costs	168,776	174,108	(5,332)
Nonâ€Âpay costs	87,644	89,400	(1,756)
Other costs
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	256,420	263,508	(7,088)
EBITDA	15,096	13,194	(1,903)
Interest	1,098	1.087	11
PDC dividend	3,300	3,300	0
Depreciation	7,596	6,897	699
Impairments – unfavourable		2,810	(2,810)
Net (deficit)	3,100	(900)	(4,000)

The above data shows decline in profits. This is due to the fact the economy is facing heat of global slowdown and hence people are left lesser disposable income to support their normal living being.

1. Current Sales revenue and other information (2013-2014):

Finances
Income	£275.2m
Operating Expenses	£263.7m
EBITDA	£11.5m
Non Operating Expenses	£11.5m
Net Surplus (forecast)
Impairments – (unfavourable)	£(0.9m)
Net deficit after Impairments	£(0.9m)
Demographics
Population served	Approx 550,000
Demographic Growth p.a.	0.64%

Workforce
Number of WTE	3,917
(includes bank and
agency as at Jan 13)
Staff turnover	Current: 11%
Staff sickness rates	Current: 4.3%
Volunteers	Approx 400 regular volunteers
	equal to 60 WTE
Activity
Emergency	47,769
Admissions
Elective Cases	39,445
Outpatient	412,814
Attendances
A&E Attendances	103,767
Births	5,748

From the above data we can conclude that the hospital is making considerable development in fostering needs of various clients that comes from around the country. The earnings are still facing a setback.

• For year 2014-2015:

	Proposed
	2014/15
	Budget
	£’m
Income
Contracts	252.0
Other	29.6
Total Income	281.6
Expenditure
Acute Medical Care	81.7
Surgery	63.4
Women’s and Children	31. 2
Clinical Support	32.3
Estates and Hotel Services	26.5
Corporate	33.4
Sub total for Divisions – Pay and non pay	268.
Pay & Prices	5.0
General contingency	2.6
Cost Pressures	7.0
Savings Target	â€Â15.0
Total Expenditure	268.1
EBITDA	13.5
Depreciation	â€Â8.2
Dividend	â€Â3.4
Interest payable	â€Â1.3
Surplus	0.6

• For year 2015-2016:

	Proposed
	2015/16
	Budget
	£’m
Income
Contracts	352.0
Other	129.6
Total Income	481.6
Expenditure
Acute Medical Care	81.7
Surgery	63.4
Women’s and Children	31. 2
Clinical Support	32.3
Estates and Hotel Services	26.5
Corporate	33.4
Sub total for Divisions – Pay and non pay	268.
Pay & Prices	5.0
General contingency	2.6
Cost Pressures	7.0
Savings Target	â€Â15.0
Total Expenditure	268.1
EBITDA	213.5
Depreciation	â€Â8.2
Dividend	â€Â3.4
Interest payable	â€Â1.3
Surplus	200.6

The projected surplus will increase up to 200.6 as the contracts and medical procedure offered to more clients will help in earning more. However efforts will be made to stick to the present expenditures as neither they will be allowed to increase so that it affects profit, nor they will be decreased to affect quality.

• For year 2016-2017:

	Proposed
	2016/17
	Budget
	£’m
Income
Contracts	452.0
Other	229.6
Total Income	681.6
Expenditure
Acute Medical Care	81.7
Surgery	63.4
Women’s and Children	31. 2
Clinical Support	32.3
Estates and Hotel Services	26.5
Corporate	33.4
Sub total for Divisions – Pay and non pay	268.
Pay & Prices	5.0
General contingency	2.6
Cost Pressures	7.0
Savings Target	â€Â15.0
Total Expenditure	268.1
EBITDA	413.5
Depreciation	â€Â8.2
Dividend	â€Â3.4
Interest payable	â€Â1.3
Surplus	400.6

The above estimation shows that the surplus will increase to 400.6 million pounds as the hospital expects to increase its client coverage in next two years. The new equipment costs will come down but the efficiency and effectiveness of the business will rise many folds.

Conclusion:

In the end, the West Hertfordshire Hospital has taken every step to market themselves as the best service provider in the industry. The SMART objectives are set, the market focus, positioning and even the marketing mix has been done so well that it can expect consistent growth and development in the coming years. The financial data estimation also shows that from the coming years the hospital is going to earn huge profits from the business and expects to earn a surplus from its business.

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