Turn your schedulers' unwritten rules into your booking engine.
Your best schedulers know years of surgeons' and anaesthetists' preferences by heart. Concord turns that knowledge into a system every booking can use.
For operating theatres, cath labs and endoscopy.
Suggested for OT 2, 14:10: hernia repair after two similar cases, same team
Acceptthe negotiation
Every booking is a negotiation.
Surgeons
Their preferred day and time, and lists that start on time.
Anaesthetists
To stay in one theatre, with a fair share of the load.
The hospital
Every theatre used well, and fewer cancellations.
Schedulers
Caught in the middle of all three.
So scheduling runs on unwritten rules: who prefers mornings, which anaesthetist works best with which surgeon, which favour is owed this week. It works, until the scheduler is busy, on leave or leaves. And no one can tell whether the schedule is the best it could be.
how booking works
Like searching for a flight, but for theatre time.
Set what must be true: the surgery, the equipment, the anaesthetist and the dates. Concord finds the best slots and ranks them by each surgeon's and anaesthetist's preferences, showing which ones each option meets and what it costs the theatre schedule. Untick a preference and search again, and you see the trade-off before you book.
01
Must-haves first
Clinical urgency, surgery category, equipment such as a C-arm, theatre availability, anaesthetist, and a flexible date range.
02
Preferences, made visible
Preferred day, time and anaesthetist, and how far ahead each surgeon will go.
03
Every option explained
Which preferences it meets, and its impact on the theatre schedule, such as extra turnover time or a broken grouping.
04
The scheduler decides
Untick, compare and book, with the reasons on screen.
Flexible enough for real hospitals. Consistent enough for every scheduler to book the same way.
Must-haves
Preferences
Best options
Grouped with 2 similar cases
First case, no extra turnover
Adds about 20 minutes of turnover
Untick a preference to search again. The scheduler books.
Studies show that grouping similar cases with the same team and anaesthetist cuts preparation and turnover time (Stepaniak 2010; Sarpong 2022).
where theatre time goes
Surgeons can't get a slot. Your theatres sit idle. Both are true.
It's a breakdown in distribution. There is enough theatre time at source, but bottlenecks stop it from reaching the surgeons who need it.
Most hospitals have tried for years to raise theatre utilisation: new rules, more meetings, extra lists. The rate barely moves, because nobody can see where the time actually goes. Here is what that can look like.
Can your current system show you this?
Illustrative figures.
8% of allocated theatre time was lost before the first incision of the day.
More than 5 in 10 cancellations started outside the theatre.
42% of cases ran more than 30 minutes longer or shorter than booked.
Not all theatre data is equal.
Even where a hospital has these numbers, ask how they were captured. Remembered times and loose definitions produce figures no one can act on.
| Typical theatre data | Concord | |
|---|---|---|
| How times are captured | Clicked in by staff, often after the fact, or remembered | Recorded at each step as it happens |
| What "case length" means | Loosely defined, often just in-room to out | Knife-to-skin to last suture, with every milestone in between |
| Level of detail | Daily or monthly totals | Every stage of every case |
What a few points of utilisation are worth
Enter your own figures. Nothing you type leaves this page.
From 50% to 55% utilisation
1,040
extra theatre hours a year
520
extra cases a year
Enter your margin
extra margin a year
Use margin rather than revenue for a figure your finance team will trust. An estimate from your inputs, not a guarantee.
on the day
On the day, every minute counts.
01
On the day
Every stage of every case is timestamped, from arrival to recovery. Movements are recorded at each checkpoint, or captured automatically if you choose to add tracking tags; clinical milestones are recorded in the moment, as part of the workflow. OT optimisation isn't a game of estimates and loose time definitions. Every minute counts.
02
Afterwards
Because every stage is timestamped precisely, the analysis holds up to the minute: where the time went, why cases were cancelled and how accurate bookings were, by theatre, specialty and surgeon, across theatres, cath labs and endoscopy.
The case timeline
Ten milestones for every case.
-
Arrival
-
Holding bay
-
Wheel-in
-
Time out
-
Intubation
-
Knife-to-skin
-
Last suture
-
Extubation
-
Wheel-out
-
Recovery
safety
Grow without adding risk.
More cases must never mean more risk. Concord builds the steps that keep patients safe into the workflow as hard stops: a case can't move to the next stage until each is complete.
When the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist was introduced in eight hospitals worldwide, deaths fell from 1.5% to 0.8% and complications from 11% to 7% (Haynes 2009). Later studies found the benefit depends on the checklist actually being carried out, not just being available. That's why Concord makes it a hard stop.
Sign Out unlocks when Time Out is complete.
by role
What Concord gives each of you
Schedulers
Years of know-how turned into a system, so every booking is quicker and every scheduler books the same way.
CEO
Theatre efficiency that doesn't depend on one person's memory, and a clear view of the capacity you already have.
COO and OT manager
See where theatre time goes and which lever to pull, across every theatre and procedure room.
Medical director
Safety steps that can't be skipped, recorded for every case.
Anaesthetists
A fair, transparent rotation, more lists in one theatre, and workload measured in anaesthesia hours and case complexity.
Surgeons
Your preferences remembered, and options that show which ones each slot meets.
IT
Optional automatic tracking uses tags on beds and trolleys, never on patients. Only a tag ID, a location and a time travel on an isolated network segment; patient identity is resolved inside the secured application. Setting it up is a short scoping conversation, not a network project.
Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur · IHH Healthcare
Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur manages its operating theatres with Concord.
details
The details, when you want them.
Facilities +
Operating theatres, cath labs and endoscopy, under one account, with consolidated reporting and role-based access.
Scheduling +
Must-haves first (clinical urgency, surgery category, equipment, theatre, anaesthetist, date range), then preferences (day, time, anaesthetist, how far ahead) shown on every option with its impact on the schedule. Case grouping, fair anaesthetist rotation and case length prediction.
Case timeline +
Ten milestones per case, from arrival to recovery. Movements are recorded at each checkpoint, or captured automatically with optional tracking tags; clinical milestones such as knife-to-skin and last suture are recorded in the moment. Patient identity is confirmed with the wristband scan staff already do at every handover.
Safety +
The holding-bay anaesthetist checklist, and WHO Sign In, Time Out and Sign Out, all as hard stops.
Reports +
Utilisation, where time is lost, start delays, turnovers, cancellations by reason, and booked versus actual case length, by theatre, specialty and surgeon.
Standard terms +
Every procedure is chosen from one standard list, so the same procedure is never entered three different ways.
Integration +
Connects to hospital systems through standard APIs, including patient admission data where available, scoped with your IT team.
Implementation +
Scheduling live in under four weeks. If you choose automatic tracking, it follows as a phased rollout: pilot, review, then scale.
Pricing +
Per case, as an operating cost. You pay only for the cases you run, with no large upfront licence.
Security +
See IT and security.
Research cited: Stepaniak 2010, Sarpong 2022, Haynes 2009.
resources
Take Concord to your team
Concord product guide
Everything on this page in depth, to share with your team.
Request the guideSample monthly report
What Concord's theatre report looks like, with sample data.
Request the samplefaq
Questions evaluators ask
Does Concord replace our HIS? +
No. Concord runs theatre and procedure scheduling next to your HIS, drawing on patient and booking data through standard APIs where available. It replaces phone-and-spreadsheet scheduling, not your system of record.
How long does it take to go live? +
Scheduling is live in under four weeks. If you choose automatic journey tracking, it follows as a phased rollout.
Do we need new hardware? +
Not for scheduling, the safety checklists or patient tracking. You can also choose to track the journey automatically, using tags and sensors connected to your existing network.
Does it work beyond operating theatres? +
Yes. Concord runs in operating theatres, cath labs and endoscopy, under one account.
Will our schedulers lose control? +
No. Concord ranks the options and shows why; your scheduler decides.
What if a surgeon's preferred slot is taken? +
Concord searches a flexible date range and shows the next best options, with the preferences each one meets.
Can surgeons' preferences change? +
Yes. Preferences guide the ranking but never block a booking, so a change of routine doesn't break the schedule.
How does it protect theatre efficiency? +
Every option shows its impact on the schedule, such as extra turnover or a broken grouping, so efficiency is weighed in every booking, not left out.
Can surgeons still choose their anaesthetist? +
Yes. If a surgeon picks an anaesthetist, Concord books them when they are free. Otherwise it assigns from a fair rotation.
Is patient data safe? +
Optional tracking tags carry no patient data, and the platform is covered on our IT and security page.
What data do you need from us to start? +
Your theatre sessions, procedure list and staff rosters. We scope the rest with you.
How is Concord priced? +
Per case, as an operating cost. You pay only for the cases you run, so your Concord bill moves with your theatre activity, and nothing is charged for a quiet month. No large upfront licence and no capital budget to secure. We only earn when your theatres are working.
Some answers depend on your hospital. We'll cover them with you.
Don't have theatre data you can trust? Most hospitals don't. That's where we start.
Book a walkthrough- →Your per-case price
- →How Concord connects to your systems
- →What it takes to start capturing theatre data you can trust
- →Configuring Concord to your scheduling rules and anaesthetist model
- →Your rollout plan, including journey tracking
- →What's on the roadmap
- →A reference call with a hospital already using Concord