Peer Reviewers from the Central Regional Health Directorate have given high marks to the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Hospital for raising the quality of healthcare delivery in the region.

The Hospital scored 95.6 per cent for adhering to the tenets of healthcare delivery, as espoused in the principles and standard of the Regional Health Directorate.

More than 85 per cent scores, according to the Directorate, was the highly performing mark after assessment.

Among the checklists were Maternal and Child Health Services, institutional maternal mortality, Caesarean section rates, Data quality audit, availability and completeness of emergency packs for post -partum Haemorrhage, amongst others.

Hospitals earmarked for review were Our Lady of Grace Hospital, Trauma and Specialist Hospital at Winneba, St. Luke Catholic Hospital, Brakwa Polyclinic and the Senya Polyclinic.

 Some Peer Reviewers at the UCC Hospital

Some of the challenges militating against the UCC Hospital as identified by the Regional Peer Reviewers, led by Mr. Ato Tetteh, Regional Biomedical Scientist, were maternal mortality ratio, institutional stillbirths, and macerated stillbirths.

At a ceremony to review the UCC Hospital, the Deputy Director of Clinical Care at the Central Regional Health Directorate, Dr. Anane Achiamaa, explained that the peer review exercise was to ensure continuous quality improvement in activities in the various hospitals in the region.

She said evidence of the fallouts of peer-review was the growing ingenuity of hospitals improving in healthcare delivering in the region.

Dr. Anane Achiamaa speaking at the event

Dr. Achiamaa expressed gratitude to the peer reviewers for painstakingly taking their time to assess the UCC Hospital.

The Director of the UCC Health Services, Dr. James Kojo Prah, lauded the review team and stated that the UCC Hospital had been structured differently from health facilities under the Ghana Health Services and the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) hospitals.

" UCC hospital is part of the University. Even as a Director, I cannot take certain decisions without consulting the Vice-Chancellor. We have agreed to be part of the Peer Review because it is a good thing. UCC has benefitted from it," he added.

Dr. James Kojo Prah

Commenting on the challenges identified by the review team, Dr. Prah laid the blame squarely on the doorstep of health facilities that refer cases to the UCC hospital in the nick of time.

He maintained that UCC hospital could manage such referral cases when received on time.

Dr. Prah, however, praised staff of the UCC hospital for their dutifulness and relentless commitment to healthcare delivery.

The Dean of the School of Nursing-UCC, Dr. Mrs. Nancy Innocentia Ebu Anyan, who chaired the event, applauded UCC hospital for the standards, describing the facility as " a hospital with a difference".

Source:Documentation and Information Section