Christopher Tufton | Delivering care with compassion

The challenges in public health are varied and many – not the least of these the delivery of good customer service, which must be prioritised.

It was, therefore, with interest that I recently read an article that called attention to this issue while referencing the priorities of the Ministry of Health and Wellness in its response to Jamaica’s growing non-communicable diseases problem.

The ministry’s response, as noted in the article and correctly so, includes the emphasis on awareness-raising, the promotion of healthy lifestyles, attention to a resilient health system, and public-private partnerships.

What was missing from that list is the ministry’s rollout of its Compassionate Care Programme, which is specifically designed to address the challenge so eloquently presented by the author of the piece: the quality of service delivery across our public health facilities – and with particular focus on some of our physicians.

Enter the Compassionate Care Programme, which is to help to create the necessary enabling environment for the delivery of patient-centred care while also giving some ease to our health staff.

The ministry is acutely aware that the bedside manner of our physicians, as other categories of health staff at our public health facilities – from active listening to effective verbal communication and attention to detail – is an essential ingredient for a good patient experience and, therefore, good health outcomes.

We are also sensitive to the fact that our health team comes under significant pressure, including from the sheer volume of patients seen on a daily basis as well as by strained resources, resulting in some negative experiences for patients.

Last year, we had 235 patient complaints through our patient-management system. Some 85 per cent were issues having to do with the service received in the facilities, and the remaining 15 per cent were due to perceived negligence by healthcare workers.

Of course, the public-health system sees almost three million cases each year, with the vast majority of cases completed successfully and without a dissatisfaction complaint.

COURSE CORRECTION

While we have seen improvements based on the customer service survey done by the public sector modernisation unit, there is still some way to go. We must strive to address every case in a way that recognises that patients are our customers in distress and that treatment starts at the entrance to our facilities.

It is against this background that we are expanding our customer-care response with an overhauled Compassionate Care Programme to increase customer-care training and situate more customer-care representatives in the primary waiting areas of our hospitals.

The core mandate will be to oversee and tend to the wait experience, including monitoring the wait environment to ensure that patient queries are responded to promptly and that the wait experience includes clean surroundings.

Nine hospitals and health centres will be the primary focus of the programme in this financial year: Percy Junor Hospital, Port Antonio Hospital, Annotto Bay Hospital, May Pen General Hospital, Bustamante Hospital for Children, Mandeville Regional Hospital, Catherine Hall Health Centre, Cambridge Health Centre and May Pen Health Centre.

We will also improve patient access to the Complaints Management System through the engagement of a business process outsourcing firm to manage, collate, and refer the patient experience as well as to ensure that there is an effective system for tracking, recording, and reporting the nature and complexity of complaints.

The team has also begun the process to train 90 per cent of all who are within our health facilities in effective customer service from a public- health vantage point. This training is to remind our clinicians about appropriate bedside manner; remind our administrative staff about courtesies and effective customer engagement and establish systems for our security officers in effective communications and people management.

We are, too, introducing unannounced and mystery audits of the wait experience, with health centres and hospitals being assessed on the wait experience. We understand the need to wait for services in public health as this happens all over the world. However, waiting can be more pleasant. It is our mission to enhance the wait experience this year.

PHYSICIAN WORKFORCE

It is also necessary to address the working conditions of our health staff, including giving attention to their numbers and competencies. As such, we have developed a plan for the expansion and upgrade of secondary care services.

Called Human Resources for Health: Clinicians Workforce, it includes the upgrade of Type A, B, C, and Regional hospitals together with an increase in the medical staff to provide services that meet the growing needs of the population.

We are also pursuing the introduction of an Electronic Health Records System for which we inked an agreement earlier this year. That system, whose features include a patient-registration system for appointment setting and assignment of patients in the triage process of a facility – will translate into shorter wait times for patients but also less cost in providing services; increased productivity; reduced staff frustration; and increased service-satisfaction levels.

Of course, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, so our efforts will take some time to give us the full range of anticipated and/or planned benefits. They also require the collaboration of the whole of society – including our patients, physicians, and other health staff. I feel sure, however, that we will succeed, that we must. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.

- Dr Christopher Tufton is Jamaica’s minister of health and wellness and member of parliament for St Catherine West Central. Send feedback to cctufton@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.