RISING TO THE CHALLENGE Nurses Prepare For Health Authority

With plans now advanced for the establishment of an autonomous Health Authority to take over the running of the medical and health services from the Anguilla Government, the Nurses at the Princess Alexandra Hospital are busily preparing themselves for the eventual transition. On Wednesday, June 4, Chief Nursing Officer, Serene Carter-Davis and Matron Alma Hughes led ten Senior Nurses at a Managers’ Day Workshop at the Teachers’ Resource Centre at which several local facilitators delivered presentations to the health workers.

In delivering the welcome address, the Chief Nursing Officer noted that the Anguilla Health Service would soon be managed in a completely new way. “Very shortly, a Shadow Board will be chosen to study all the regulations, policies and procedures to be implemented when the Anguilla Health Authority Board comes into being on January 1, 2004,” she said. “With this new way of management, the Health Service will be expected to function more efficiently with value for money and customer satisfaction being the order of the day.

“The ultimate aim is that the Health Service will be run as a business and every unit will have to be accounted for its performance. With nursing as the backbone of any health service, it is the norm to offer care to the customer, client or the patient… 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thus it is incumbent on us to take time out to analyse the type of care that we offer to our customers.”
Mrs. Carter-Davis observed that customers were more knowledgeable now than before; were aware of what they wanted and were demanding value for money. “We are in competition with health care in the private sector [in Anguilla] and in other countries in and out of the region,” she went on. “With tourism being the mainstay of our economy, visitors come to our shores expecting that the service we offer is of a certain quality. If the tourists’ expectations are not met, we are sure to get negative publicity.
“Nursing management, therefore, considers quality as a survival issue for the Health Service in general and the nursing service in particular. Quality is the responsibility of all staff and this concept must pervade all aspects of work in the nursing service.”

She emphasised the need for team effort and pointed out that in order for the nursing service to succeed, every nurse must be committed to quality and changing the status quo. She warned that lack of competence implied poor quality and that it could only be remedied by education and training. In calling for a culture of quality in the Health Service, she stressed the importance of strong supervision, extensive training; recognition of good performance; continuous improvement; change in the culture; and top management commitment. The Chief Nursing Officer added that the Managers Day Workshop was planned as the beginning of the way forward in improving the quality of care being offered by the Anguilla Health Service.

The day-long workshop included a presentation by Permanent Secretary for Health, Foster Rogers on Roles & Functions of Nurse Managers; Leadership Qualities of the Nurse Manager by Dr. Phyllis Fleming-Banks; Professionalism in Nursing by retired Nurse, Agnes Brooks; Orientation of Nursing Staff by Chief Nursing Officer, Mrs. Carter-Davis; Legal Responsibilities of the Nurse Manager by Barrister-at-Law Kenneth Porter; Interpersonal Relationships by Pastor Samuel Daniel; and The Importance of Recording and Reporting by Matron Alma Hughes.

Chief Nursing Officer Serene Carter Davis (extreme right second row) and Matron Alma Hughes (second from left) with senior nursing colleagues at Managers’ Day Workshop