The Health Authority of Anguilla has carried out a review of its performance during the period July to December 2008 and its Chief Executive Officer, Darlene Baptiste, has stressed that every effort will be made to constantly improve the work of the organisation.

Health Officials at Review Performance

The day-long review was held at Paradise Cove on Friday, February 27, at a meeting of Heads of Department at which the Chairman of the Board, Dr. Franklin Lloyd, and the Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, were among those in attendance. There were presentations by various division heads on patient care services, diagnostic and therapeutic services, health information matters, nutrition and promotion, corporate administration and operations.

Ms Baptiste spoke about the importance of customer service to meet the high expectations of the public and the need for accountability at all levels. She was pleased that a number of infrastructural improvements had taken place during the past year, and stressed that there was now a need for everyone, collectively, to do something different to further the work of the Health Authority.

She stated that the internal performance review would be implemented during the year and would focus on how the Health Authority should work. She said the performance team would examine each division and department with a view to making changes and improvements.

The CEO said it was time for the Authority to listen to the community and that her office had received many letters and cards which were invaluable to the organisation. They showed what the expectations of the public were and the importance of establishing confidence in the health care services. She said efforts would be made to enable the Health Authority to work better while costing less and indicated that there would be cutbacks on corporate administrative systems and management layers in due course.

Dr. Lloyd said the review was an opportunity to look at what the Health Authority had done or did not do and to move forward with greater purpose. He was of the view that many of the health-care workers had performed their duties well, within the prescribed areas of activity, but said that if there were some who fell short of their performance, the Executive Management must address the deficiencies honestly, fairly and in a timely manner.

“It is not good enough for us to focus only on a narrow area of activity,” he went

Hon. Evans Rogers

on. “We must all function as essential and inter-connected parts of the machinery that delivers health-care to the people of Anguilla. Each employee at every level of our health-care delivery system must always be aware of our objective which is to make the Health Authority of Anguilla the first choice of health-care…In order for us to achieve this objective, we must strive at all times to improve the quality of health care we provide…We must all help to educate and inform about the services we can provide. In the final analysis we can only go so far as the entire staff of the Health Authority enables us. That generally requires maximum individual effort and well-coordinated team work.”

Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, congratulated the Health Authority for its work which he said was on “the front burner” these days, a statement regarding recent opposition criticisms. He emphasised that it was incumbent upon the workers, from a professional standpoint, to deliver a health care system in Anguilla as good as they could and to be able to address some of the problems they encounter in a structured manner.

“What is amazing is that with all the expertise we have, we can identify the problems but we don’t have any solutions,” he lamented. “With that in mind these types of gatherings should not only focus on the problems and achievements, but on the solutions and there should be a follow through with regard to the way forward.”

Dr. Franklin Lloyd

Mr. Rogers noted that since 2004, when the Health Authority was established, there was now a complete change of the Board and Corporate Office. He said the current administrative structure was still grappling with challenges left over from the previous set up, but called attention to the need for improvement in the quality of heath-care services to the people of Anguilla. “I want that to be foremost in your mind,” the Minister said. “We have to work together in order to improve the service… We may not like change but we should not avoid the challenges that come with change. Sometimes we don’t like it but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to work together towards the common goal of improving the delivery of health-care service...”

He was pleased that the Health Authority had embarked on a training programme and hoped that every aspect of service would be re-visited and that certain standard procedures would be initiated towards improvement. “We need to be able to convince the public that we are the first choice of health-care. If we are not here to work hard, I think we should raise our hands and ask for a pleasant exit,” he stated.

Mr. Rogers added that his Ministry stood in support of the work of the Health Authority whose establishment was a noble idea.

Ms. Darlene Baptiste

Meanwhile the goals of the Health Authority, which are continuing into this year, are to improve its first response capability; improve the hospital emergency services; continuously upgrade its diagnostic capabilities; strengthen its primary care and preventive services; upgrade its specialist services; and improve quality client experience at all levels of service through staff training and motivation.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News