More staff needed for smooth running of health services

Claudia Gardner Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU:Regional Technical Director at the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr Simone Spence, says there is need for more robust human capital investment in all areas of the public health system in the west.

Spence said this was especially due to a more-than-noticeable increase in access and utilisation of services in the region since 2008 when the Government of Jamaica abolished user fees for services within the country's regional health authorities.

She made her comments during a consultation staged by the Ministry of Health on the financing of the public health sector at the Montego Bay Civic Centre in St James on Sunday.

"There is a need for additional staff to be recruited, trained, and provided with incentives for retention in all areas, especially in primary health care. Continued development of human resources for health services needs to remain a high priority," Spence said.

"The WRHA has maintained key services despite increased workload as well as a high standard of services despite inadequate numbers of staff and resources. The region also maintained reasonably strong customer-service records, patient admission, and visits accommodated despite challenges of space and staffing," she added.

Spence said between 2008 and 2012, the region employed 894 health workers on average, with a noticeable increase in 2012 of 16 per cent. In 2008, there were 867 health workers employed to the WRHA. She said at the end of 2012, that number had increased to 1,003.

Generally speaking, Spence said, there had been increased access and utilisation of all services except surgical procedures since 2008.

Spence said, after 2008, there were some infrastructure improvements made, but they were not enough to mitigate the challenges faced by the region prior to and after 2008 when the no-user fee policy was introduced by the Government. "After 2008, there was inadequate waiting-area space; low staff morale as staff were burnt out; lengthened waiting time at clinics, pharmacies, and X-ray units as well as more unfriendly encounters between users and providers; and an issue with service ability versus expectation."