the occasion of Philani Service Excellence Awards ceremony, Bloemfontein
27 November 2006
Programme Director,
Honoured guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Last week here at Pacofs, we celebrated the joy of singing and were treated
to choir performances of the highest quality. The stage was set for a breath
taking ceremony which formed part of our annual Philani Service Excellence
Awards. Personnel from several of our institutions and members of communities
from various towns of the Free State met to enjoy the rendition of melodious
songs by our choirs from the institutions and even a choir from corporate
management participated. For those who did not attend the choir competition let
me say that the mood that prevailed amongst the choristers who performed on
stage as well as amongst the audience that watched these performances was
spectacular.
I want to again take this opportunity to express my gratitude and sincere
appreciation to those of our personnel who have decided to put time aside in
their tight work schedules to take part in these choirs that we have in our
facilities. In our quest for and dedication to quality service delivery we
often neglect to give attention to other important aspects of our lives which
include recreational activities. I have thus already expressed my delight at
the fact that in this department we have these choirs in our institutions and
this competition that we had yesterday. May this good initiative carry on.
Programme Director, let me also congratulate the winning choir, the Bophelo
House Choir from corporate management for having scooped the overall winning
prize yesterday. This is a remarkable achievement for this is the first year
this choir is participating. They are here with us today and they will surely
give us the taste of what was yesterday. Congratulations to you, ladies and
gentlemen.
Honoured guests, the choir competition are inextricably linked to the event
of today. As a matter of fact that choir competition is officially called the
Philani choir competition because of its link to the Philani awards ceremony.
Through both of these events we celebrate and recognise quality during this
month of November that we call the quality month in the Free State Department
of Health.
Today we mark the second phase of the Philani awards, which as I noted
earlier, started earlier with the choir competition. This second phase is
geared towards recognising men and women, institutions and services in the
department which have excelled in their drive for quality service delivery. We
meet here today on this stage of Philani to forge ahead with this important
mission that we have dedicated ourselves to.
The Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) is serious business for the Free
State Department of Health and for me as Member of the Executive Council
(ExCo); for Health it is matter of the heart. I am proud to say that the
department has in the past year taken great strides to improve quality and our
projects have borne fruit. During the review of the Philani adjudication
process 11 workshops were held during the first six months of the year and in
almost all the workshops comments were made about window dressing and that the
picture that the adjudicators see is not a true reflection of reality.
Subsequently I approved that the adjudicators should make unannounced visits.
We also have decided that the prize money should be shared among the three
first places. We have also changed the adjudication process of the winning
district.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to briefly provide some background on the
adjudication process for the competition:
* Academic complex
The adjudication tool was discussed and refined and the first round was done by
an internal team of the complex and all units with marks above 80 percent
qualified for the final round. In total five units from the Free State
Psychiatric Complex and nine from Universitas Academic Hospital qualified for
the final round.
* Regional and district hospitals
The hospitals' first round was done by the provincial quality co-ordinators
and all hospitals with 75 percent and above qualified for the second round. In
total one regional hospital and six district hospitals qualified for the final
round. Visits were unannounced.
* Community health centres, clinics, mobiles and emergency medical services
(EMS) stations
The first and second rounds were done by local teams and all institutions
with mark of 80 percent and above qualified for the final round. Five stations
qualified for the final round.
The following number of institutions qualified for the final round: five
community health centres, 32 primary healthcare clinics (PHC) and 12 mobile
clinics.
* Best health district
The districts were assessed using the national tool by a team which included
a community member. The final decision was made based on a more open process
with a more comprehensive approach being followed.
* Best health worker
Health workers were nominated by their supervisors and motivated and sifted
locally before 22 finalists were sent through for provincial decision. The
corporate evaluation committee did the final evaluation and finalised all other
results as well.
* Best professional nurse
The evaluation was done by the nurse managers and the three winners were
determined.
* Revenue collection for regional and district hospitals
The calculation for this category was done by a managerial accountant and
the winners determined as those hospitals which collected most revenue per bed
in use.
* Corporate management
This year this category was cancelled due to the changes which took place as
a result of the new micro structure development. However, I am looking forward
to awarding prizes in this category next year.
Programme Director, apart from the Philani awards quality improvement
programme attention was also given this year to personnel development and
sensitisation and I am pleased to say that we've had positive responses and
outcomes from the summit for medical professionals, the conference held
recently.
Programme Director, this is the sixth year in which we present the Philani
Service Excellence Awards. Today we will hand out prize money to the value of
R524 000 which will go to the first, second and third placed winners in various
categories. This money will be utilised in the next financial year by those who
have won in these various categories and the basic thrust is to improve the
morale of personnel. Let me stress that according to the guiding principles of
this competition:
* The prize money is to be used at the institution or office where the
winning team is based to bring about improvements that will have an impact on
the quality of service.
* It can be used to improve the facility to buy equipment or for operational
expenses which are not recurrent in nature.
* The head of the institution or office should consider the improvement to be
appropriate.
* The winning facility will be required to submit a full business plan
detailing how they intend spending the money. The money must be utilised during
the 2007/08 financial year.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the various categories for this
competition and the prize monies attached to it in the interest of transparency
and openness. The various categories with prize money are:
1) Best mobile clinic: R25 000
2) Best fixed clinic: R30 000
3) Best community health centre: R40 000
4) Best district hospital: R50 000
5) Best regional hospital: R75 000
6) Best clinical department at African Health Scientist's Congress (AHSC): R60
000
8) Best EMS station: R30 000
9) Best health district: R70 000
10) Best health worker: R17 000
11) Best professional nurse: R17 000
12) Best revenue collection district hospitals: R50 000
13) Best revenue collection regional hospitals: R60 000
Ladies and gentlemen, these year's Philani awards take place in a very
important stage of the department's quality improvement programme. Let me end
by committing this department to quality, care, service delivery and putting
people first! We will not compromise on quality and will continuously manage
adverse events to the best of our abilities. I have no doubt that if we
continue to join hands as we did in the past and that nothing will stand in our
way of quality service delivery.
I want to thank management in this department under the leadership of the
acting Head of Department, Dr Ronald Chapman, the executive management and the
rest of personnel for having given all that they could to this year. I also
want to thank all the institutions, services, men and women in this department
for their dedication, whether they have won or not in this competition. What
has actually won here is nothing other than quality itself.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Health, Free State Provincial Government
27 November 2006
