Cape Coast Hospital Prioritises Maternal And Child Health Care

The Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH), the only referral facility in the Central Region has instituted a new policy whereby expectant and new mothers as well as their babies will be provided with nurses solely responsible for them to facilitate total nursing care to prioritize maternal and child health care services in 2018.

In addition, the facility would collaborate effectively with doctors, midwives and nurses who would be engaging in the "direct patient care" as part of the new nursing care policy of CCTH for unrivalled health care services to patients.

The move is geared at improving quality health care services through infection prevention and control practices to stem avoidable loss of lives, particularly maternal and neonatal deaths.

It is also aimed at reducing the starling numbers of maternal mortality which stood at 41 in both 2016 and 2017.

Though still birth rate decreased from 56 per every one thousand births in 2016 to 34 in 2017, representing 39.2 percent reduction, yet the facility saw it as woefully unsatisfactory if it was to achieve its aim of a zero rate.

Dr Daniel Asare, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the CCTH who said this at the 2017 Annual Performance Review Conference held in Cape Coast on Tuesday, noted that doctor-nurses-patient relationship was a central part of quality health care practice of moral principles that apply values to the practice of clinical medicine to allow doctors, care providers, and families to create a treatment plan and work towards the same common goal of patient's satisfaction without any hindrance.

The conference held on the theme: "Transforming health care delivery in Cape Coast Teaching Hospital", also afforded them the opportunity to take stock of events over the last twelve months and to determine the new direction of the facility.

In attendance at the conference were doctors, officials of the Regional Health Directorate, heads of departments, medical assistants, nurses and representatives of other teaching hospitals across the country.

Dr Asare highlighted the importance of caring for mothers as a crucial factor in the health of children but bemoaned that many mothers still suffered from lack of access to quality health services and quality of life especially in far-reaching places in the Region.

According to him, the facility had resolved to adopt prudent best practices in improving its relationship with all patients, reduce waiting time and lift its performance as part of a broad strategy to meet the expectation of patients.

The CEO recommitted the Hospital's determination to achieve the Ministry of Health's objective on delivering quality maternal and child health care for 2018 as a way of achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on health care.

He charged all the health personnel and staff of the facility to always make patient's health care the focus of their operations and constantly remind themselves that, "it is the quality of service we give to the public that will determine the relevance of our existence as a corporate entity".

Dr Asare outlined high institutional maternal mortaliity and neonatal deaths, encroachment on hospital lands, inadequate staff accommodation, ageing staff, inactive or inadequate equipment such as medical oxygen plant, power generators and laundry services as some challenges confronting the health institution.

He said despite those challenges, management was determined to make the Hospital one of the best in the country to provide quality curative and regenerative health care to the people of the Region and beyond through the use of modern, evidence-based methods of health delivery.

Dr Alexis Nang-Beifubah, the Regional Director of the Ghana Health Services commended CCTH for it untiring efforts to provide quality health services with exceptional patient-to-nurse relationship.

He declared his support and commitment to offer them all the needed assistance to achieve the vision of the facility of becoming the foremost health centre in Ghana and a world class facility.