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Government focuses on
delivering Despite the problems still affecting the health sector, the Health Ministry has launched the Patient’s Charter of Rights and Obligations, National Accreditation Standards Manual, and Quality Awards Programme. These are aimed at achieving quality and excellence in the health sector. When he addressed the launch of the Public Sector Health Quality Awards programmes at Hilton Hotel on Monday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said findings of Health Sector Reform Studies highlighted certain problems which plague the sector. These included administrative inefficiency, allocative inefficiency and insufficiency as well as the absence of proper checks and balances. “All these have conspired against the quality of service delivered,” Manning said. He added that improving the service delivered by health care facilities required that more attention be paid to developing systems of effectiveness and efficiency. “Inclusive of systems of measurement and scrutiny in health care delivery,” Manning said. The Prime Minister said health care operators (Regional Health Authorities) must show a new level of commitment to the systematic and stringent application of methods and approaches. Manning said “from bottom to top” every member of staff had to be committed. In an environment of increasing competitive health care choices, rising expectations and “even resources constraints” every public health care provider are challenged to provide quality care, he said. Manning conceded that quality also required equipping staff at every level of health institutions to do their jobs proficiently and professionally, but said government has been treating with the concerns of health professionals. He said introduction of the Accreditation Standards Manual will place health institutions and programmes under increasing scrutiny. “Hospitals, health centres, district facilities and public health programmes would all benefit from appraisals,” Manning said. Focusing on the Awards scheme, he said categories include Best Provider Agency, Best Primary and Secondary Health Care Facility, and Best Health Quality Team. With elections in the air, Manning could not leave out a comment about his party’s chances in the General Elections and said he would hand out the prizes for the Quality Awards Programme next year. Health Minister Colm Imbert said a Draft Quality Services Act that was developed by the previous United National Congress (UNC) government is yet to be tabled in Parliament. He said the legislation is risky because it demanded a level of service at the nation’s health facilities and put quality into law. Imbert said a risk management manual is close to completion.
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