Non-compliance to quality standards at a primary health care clinic in South Africa
Mr. Lebuile Mogakwe
University of free state, South Africa
: J Nurs Patient Care
Abstract
The South African Ministry of Health stated that compliance with quality standards in the health services is nonnegotiable since it is fundamental in improving South Africa’s current poor health outcomes; restoring patient and staff confidence in the public health care system; achieving widespread sustainable development and providing basic quality healthcare in South Africa. Non-compliance with quality standards evident from the increased quality-related queries raised by the community, prompted the researcher to explore and describe the reasons for managers’ noncompliance with quality standards at the Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics in a South African Health District. The reasons for the managers’ non-compliance with quality standards at the PHC clinics were explored and described to forward propositions to facilitate managers’ compliance with the quality standards. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design were used for this study. Participants were purposefully selected from the population of eighty-two managers and consisted of a sample of twelve individuals who met the inclusion criteria. Data were collected by means of in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews. Data analysis was done by means of Tesch’s open coding method. The findings of the study revealed challenges with managerial practices and required resources as the reasons for non-compliance with quality standards. These challenges include the following: non-involvement of PHC clinics’ managers in decision making by senior management; lack of support from senior management; poor internal communication practices and constrained human, material and financial resources. Recommendations to facilitate the managers’ compliance with the quality standards were described as the implementation of effective management practices and allocation of adequate healthcare resources.
Biography
