Reactive scheduling model for the operating theatre

This paper addresses the disruption management and rescheduling problem of the day-to-day running of a day surgery unit. The problem is modelled as a single machine scheduling problem with sequence dependent processing times and due dates. The proposed optimisation model sequences both elective and non-elective patients in the online environment. The weighted number of expected surgeries to complete on-time is maximised. We propose a branch and bound algorithm to solve the problem. Computational experiments are conducted illustrating its applicability to the problem of reactive scheduling in the operating theatre.