Major shake-up of health authorities coming

Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton has announced that a major shake-up should be expected in the four Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) that currently operate within the public health care system.Tufton, who made the announcement during his Sectoral Debate presentation in Parliament Wednesday, revealed that data is now being collected to guide the restructuring of the system of health delivery, looking closely at the RHAs to ensure greater efficiency, effectiveness and the improved quality of care and services.

He said: “I am hoping to be in a position this year to announce an overhaul of the RHAs. Anecdotally, let me say there is going to be a need for consolidation through either shared services or the possible merging of authorities. The reality is, there is too much duplication in the system and in areas such as maintenance, procurement and project management, there is limited capacity. This has led to inefficiencies and waste. I anxiously await the recommendations of the consultants and will keep this House informed as I am updated.”

With regard to the public sector health reform process, the minister said data is currently being collected through an ongoing study financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization and the World Bank, that will build on the in-depth analysis initiated in 2016, following the 2012 in-depth process of evaluation that was started to comprehensively assess the health reform process that involved the regionalisation of health authorities in 1998.

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