KEMRI-Wellcome Trust has conducted research to understand how county hospitals in Coastal Kenya set priorities and allocate resources between services. Data was collected in 2012 and 2013.
This brief presents the key findings from the research, showing how hospital managers set priorities and the reasons behind their decisions. Even though the study was conducted pre-devolution, findings remain relevant post-devolution, especially in counties where hospitals still enjoy financial autonomy and as they plan ways to structure hospital financing and priority setting.
The brief provides recommendations for county departments of health to improve hospital financing and budgeting, and for hospital managers to improve priority setting and ensure a fair allocation of resources between services.
Key messages
-
Hospitals lack explicit processes for setting healthcare priorities; this provides room for the use of inappropriate priority setting criteria such as lobbying and favouritism. Evidence is not used in decision- making.
-
Hospitals are severely under-resourced and depend on user fee revenues. This has turned hospitals into revenue-maximisers whereby managers prioritise services that generate revenue through user-fees and overlook services with limited moneymaking potential, including those for young children and disabled people.
-
Many key stakeholders including middle level managers, clinicians and community members, are not included in priority setting processes. It is important for hospital managers to institute clearly defined procedures and ensure that priority setting is inclusive.
-
Hospital managers are often clinicians with limited training and skills in management and leadership. Many did not choose to become leaders. Educational institutions and county departments of health both have a role to play in strengthening management and leadership capacity, as well as incentivising hospital managers.
