Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority of Anguilla, Mr. Dexter James, has advised that the Health Authority has been granted an accreditation award by the Board of Directors of the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA). The notification of this international award was received on February 6th, 2007 and was based on an assessment of the quality and standard of care of health system in Anguilla based on internationally accepted guidelines.

Sitting: Mr. Dexter James and Dr. Phyllis Fleming-Banks, L-R standing: Mrs. Vernice Battik, Mrs. Cherrille Franklin and Dr. Kaseem

The CEO indicated that the process of pursuing health systems accreditation commenced with an application for membership in May 2004 when the Board of Directors took the strategic decision to pursue accreditation as a basis for building on the gains of the system. The pursuit of accreditation of the health system was seen as one way to increase public confidence in the use of the public health services and to increase the organization’s credibility and demonstrated accountability for service delivery.

The Health Authority obtained formal approval for membership with CCHSA on July 9th, 2004 based on their assessment of the readiness of the Health Authority to pursue such a challenging and ambitious process. An assessment was made of the stability of the health-care environment and the level of commitment and enthusiasm by the Board, executive management and staff to the process. The Board then appointed an Accreditation Coordinator in the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Dexter James, who was supported by 7-team leaders and teams comprising cross-functional membership. Such included the Fire Services Department, Anguilla Soroptimist Club, Anguilla Diabetes Association, Social Security Board, Anguilla Civil Services Association (ACSA) and other private sector organizations, to name a few. These teams worked continuously on completing the self-assessment of the Anguilla health services against international standards for health care quality. The areas of assessment by the accrediting body included acute care, leadership and partnership, long-term care, primary health care, human resources, information management and the environment.

During the period leading up to the formal survey in December 11-15, 2006, several activities were undertaken. These included the conduct of a study tour to Grey Bruce Health Services in Canada by a 3-member team led by Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Dr. Phyllis Fleming-Banks. Other members included Dr. Bonnie Richardson-Lake, Permanent Secretary – Health, and Mr. Dexter James, CEO. This tour was facilitated to by CCHSA to allow the Health Authority to glean first hand knowledge of the process and to witness the process of a health system undergoing an accreditation survey. This tour was partially funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) under the Health Sector Reform support programme for Anguilla. CCHSA in support of this process conducted a number of interim surveys in May 2005, December 2005 and July 2006 to ensure the readiness of the health system for formal survey. They also provided educational support by working with teams in the conduct of self-assessment and interpretation of standards. At each visit, surveyors noted the tremendous strides that had been made in the continued re-development of the health system and encouraged the organization to focus on implementation of policies and procedures. At the most recent interim evaluation in July 2006, CCHSA noted that the organization had become more team focused and had successfully reached a stage of compliance to standards through policies and procedures development.

These activities culminated in the formal survey over the week of December 11-15, 2006. The objective of the survey was to assess whether the health services had attained an internationally acceptable standard based on its current level of resources. During this visit, several focus group meetings were held with accreditation teams. Visits were made to all facilities to review progress on the implementation of recommendations of previous visits. Meetings were also held with past clients and community partners’ to obtain feedback on their experiences and assessment of the state of health services from a user and advocacy point of view.

Mr. James commended the Board of Directors for their foresight in embarking on this programme of accreditation and was high in praise for team leaders, team members, staff and community partners who worked untiringly on this ambitious project. In celebrating the award, CEO James indicated that Anguilla can boast of being the only island in the English Speaking Caribbean that has an accredited health care system. The significance of this award, he added, is that “we have an integrated health system (primary and secondary care) that is accredited which unlike Bermuda has only its hospital accredited by the same body. Mr. James opined that this award will ensure that the health system operates at a minimum standard of care benchmarked against international standards and will no doubt serve to continue to improve public confidence in the use of the system.

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