Patients weren’t loyal to the building

A hospital owner once said to me, “Syed, we set up the best hospital in this part of town. Why do patients go to the other side of the road?”

I didn’t have a reply that day. So I went and searched.

His building was beautiful. Marbled lobby, glass doors, a new MRI, a reception that looked like a five-star hotel. He had poured a lot of money into it, and every dollar was visible.

Then I searched for his surgeons on Google. One had 8 reviews and one photo. Another had no profile at all. Not one video, nothing to explain what they do. The hospital had a brand. The doctors who looked after the patients were invisible.

A few months on, his senior orthopaedic surgeon left. For the next few weeks, knee and hip referrals were slashed. The patients didn’t vanish. They went with the surgeon to the next hospital, less than two kilometres down the road.

That’s when it finally dawned on him. The patients weren’t loyal to the building. They were loyal to the doctor.

Tons of capital is spent on the physical environment, and almost none on being present for the patient online. But when a patient is scared and searching in the middle of the night, they’re not searching for flooring.

The hospitals that thrive are willing to put money into both: a solid structure, and doctors that patients know and trust before they even come through the door.