An estimator from Harvard was asked: what is the most difficult thing to organise? To which he replied: there are three things that are very difficult to organise: a university, an orchestra and a hospital. The interview with Dr. Bartolome Beltrán, which took place last week on La Sexta Television, began with this visual anecdote about the main characteristic they share, all of them being multidisciplinary.
public-private collaboration
From professional to political management
On 14th, January, 2017, the then commisioner of the Ribera Salud Department, José Sanfeliu, recently named the Deputy Director of staff costs and financial control of the Ministry of Finance, had already predicted: «A La Ribera job pool will be created, which will include our family and friends«. It has been barely a month and a half since the reversion and I have been left astounded after reading an article in the press about the development of healthcare in Alzira: «Healthcare breaches working conditions and strings are pulled for relatives in La Ribera«.
The story of Alzira in two speeches
It´s been a month since the Valencian government took over the management of La Ribera Health Department. After almost 20 years of private management, on 1st April, La Ribera began a new stage of direct public management. There are many conclusions to be made about the whole situation, which I will discuss in future blog entries.
Shared Objectives
As an exercise in transparency, the council have recently published the latest opinion poll. This is a barometer which the Government carry out annually which collects data of great interest in order to understand the concerns of the Valencian people. In this new gauge of the Valencian society, health has climbed to second position, becoming one of the main worries for citizens, according to the 2,016 people of whom completed the survey.
Harvard: innovation and transformation as managers of change
I’ ve come Boston where I’ve participated in a very interesting conference hosted by Harvard University on the sustainability of public health systems. It strikes me that while in universities as prestigious as this one conferences of such high level are usually held back in Spain people are more worried about simple debates. In our country, people pay more attention at the concessional model instead of looking for solutions to the challenges that threaten health care systems around the world.
For accountability, transparency and good governance
Unfortunately, we are currently hearing some speeches from certain groups who intend to influence public opinion by spreading all kinds of claims against public-private collaboration so as to eliminate or reverse it. In healthcare, little or no importance is given to the management model developed by Ribera Salud which provides fair access to health services; neither does it value its efficiency, its care quality, the savings it brings with it, or the degree of citizen satisfaction. Similarly, no importance is given to the future of workers if their centres were to revert to traditional direct management instead of a collaborative type of management.