Health Policy and Service Delivery in Referral Hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

In recent years, there is an increased attention to build formidable health systems governance to promote the highest attainable standard of health service delivery which has become a fundamental part of our human rights and of our understanding of a life in dignity. The health systems governance through the establishment of health policy has taken on increasing importance in the provision of health care services in the health institutions. The public hospitals in Kenya have weak health systems governance attributed to the existing health policy affecting quality healthcare. The current study sought to examine the health policy as a key health systems governance aspect influencing service delivery in National Referral hospitals in Kenya. The study was anchored to the Contingency Leadership Theory. A conceptual framework was developed to show the relationship between the independent variables (health policy) and dependent variable (service delivery in the national referral hospitals in Kenya). The study identified six categories of the target respondents, namely, 5 directors, 43 board members and 88 head of departments. The study used regression analysis to analyze the association between the variables at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that all the health policy as a key health system governance aspect, had a positive and significant relationship with service delivery in the national referral hospitals in Kenya in terms of accessibility, affordability, coverage, customer satisfaction and timeliness of the services. The results support the current theories related to the study. Consequently, this study provides national referral hospitals with insights of how to improve health care service delivery through the adoption of appropriate health policy in the national referral hospitals. This could go a long way in ensuring there is improved service delivery in the national referral hospitals in Kenya.