Thursday, March 28, 2024

New rules for improving healthcare

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CHANGES ARE COMING to the regulations governing health care practitioners in Barbados.This is according to Minister of Health Donville Inniss. He was speaking during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) for medical practitioners at the National Insurance Building, Culloden Road, on Monday. He said that while Barbados’ health care system was one to be “justly” proud of, “there will always be pockets of discontent. This should help to keep us on our toes and not settle for complacency”.Inniss said his ministry was moving with great “urgency and determination” to improve the regulations of health care practitioners both in the private and public sectors, noting that a new quality act was currently being prepared.“A new Registration Bill was returned to the Ministry of Health from the Attorney General’s office last week and will shortly be reviewed by the Cabinet. I eagerly await the debate in Parliament and from the public on the new bill. “Our efforts will go way beyond the councils which regulate the profession and begin to look at the facilities from where these professionals operate, along with the quality of service and staffing as well. It is a mammoth undertaking and it will not occur overnight,” he said.“Reforms and improved regulations in our health care system . . . must not be centred around medical practitioners. Far too often we spend too much time focusing on doctors and not engaging our discussions on other health care professionals,” said Inniss.He assured the gathering that no group would be left behind in the focus on continuous health care reforms, and added that he did not intend that Barbados would become an over regulated society.“But we must confess that too much of our regulatory framework is rather antiquated. While we do occasionally have challenges with many of the private facilities which the Ministry of Health regulates, let me be the first to admit to you that our own facilities are not without fault and we must also seek to raise the standard of the facilities and care. “There must not be one set of standards for the private sector and one for the public sector – we serve one small society,” Inniss pointed out.He added: “We have come a long way with our health care system, but there is no time to rest.”

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