Decentralisation of Outpatient Services from Colonial War Memorial Hospital to the Health Centre in the Suva Subdivision
- Author:
Devina Nand
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Decentralization, General Outpatient, Suva, Fiji
- From:Fiji Journal of Public Health
2012;1(1):1-6
- CountryFiji
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Patient choice forms a key part of health service
improvement and forms a major determinant in
patient health care delivery. At a time when the
population of Fiji has access to 24 hour banking
services and extended supermarket services, the
outpatient services at health centres remained in
the eight hour access, from 8am to 4.30pm.
The Valelevu, Makoi and Raiwaqa health centres
have been providing extension of service hours
from 6.30am to 10pm on weekdays and 8am to
4pm on weekends, from 2nd March and 15th
April, 2009, respectively. Ths concept is to be
extended to all six health centres in the Suva
Sub-division from the 31st of January 2011.
Decentralization is about making services more
accessible to the community, in other words,
bringing the services closer to where people
reside. A study of the health facilities in the Suva
Sub-division are provided with statistical analysis
and needs for future expansion of health facilities
with the necessary infrastructural improvements
or developments, staffi and medical supplies.
The report provides recommendations to
operationalizing the decentralization process by
46.4%. Th average number of patient arrivals
for year 2010 was 7637 patients per month (251
patients/day) and for 2011 it was 4095 patients
per month (135 patients/day). In 2010 the trend
for patient arrivals has been a plateau whereas
in 2011 a gradual decline reaching to a steady
state of patient arrivals from September till the
month of December was seen.
