The aim of this study is to identify green logistics (GL) best practice leading to the efficient management of resources and waste in Thai public hospitals. This work is influenced by and is aligned with the Thailand’s 2nd National Logistics and Supply Chain Research Strategies (2012-2016). The GL practices of six public hospitals were investigated, chosen to give coverage of the different types/sizes, locations and a range of environmental performance issues. Hospital visits were undertaken to collect data by interview, documentation and observation approaches. The GL best practices were principally identified by using developed indicators and a cross-case analysis method. The results of this study showed that resource and waste flows appeared very complicated within Thai hospitals. Thus, effectively introducing and managing GL within these settings requires the coordination of all staff (clinical and other), and the consideration of all environmental impacts from product purchasing through to waste disposal. Many beneficial practices for successfully reducing resource consumption and waste were identified. Key findings were that green initiatives need to be supported by: sufficient environmental education; two-way communication; effective evaluation and recording systems; and Director-level support. Importantly, GL adoption in the Thai context should be grounded in the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy concept (e.g. moderation, wisdom, and happiness), as well as contemporary hospital logistics theory and practice. Finally, it is recommended that the current Hospital Accreditation process is changed to integrate sustainable best practices, and that some pertinent government regulations and policies should be reviewed and changed as they were seen to be counterproductive and indeed in many cases it was proven that the enactment of the policies themselves actually increased waste.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:742699 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Bandoophanit, Thianthip |
| Publisher | University of Bradford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10454/15708 |
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