Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) is a decision support technique that allows stakeholders to conduct experiments with models that represent real-world systems of interest. Its use in healthcare is comparatively new. Healthcare needs have grown and healthcare organisations have become larger, more...

Over the past decades healthcare organisations have grown in size and complexity and healthcare costs have outpaced economic growth. In countries where healthcare is publicly-funded, increasing costs have traditionally meant a rise in the healthcare budgets in real terms; however, the ongoing...

Objectives The objective of this study is to recommend alternative policies, which are tested on a computer simulation model, towards a more cost-effective management of the blood supply chain in the UK.Methods With the use of primary and secondary data from the National Blood Service (NBS) and...