Costs control management and service delivery in private health institutions: a case study of St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre in Kibaale District

Abstract

The study assessed the contribution of costs control management to service delivery in private health institutions like St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre. The objectives of the study were; to examine how labour costs control management affects quality service delivery at St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre, to assess how overhead costs control management affect quality service delivery at St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre and finally to find out how materials costs control affect quality service delivery at St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used in selecting the sample respondents. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive percentages and Pearson’s Correlation, while qualitative data from interviews were grouped according to themes and analyzed to substantiate the quantitative data. The study revealed that for a relaxed labour costs control, service delivery improves and when the labour costs control is restrictive then service delivery deteriorates. Therefore, management at St. Ambrose Health Centre should relax its controls on labour by employing a personnel manager, promoting staff career development and growth. All these will improve on service delivery. Subsequent research findings indicate that overhead costs control management affected service delivery at St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre. Marketing, research and new service development were still lacking and this led to patients’ dissatisfaction. Therefore St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre should recruit a marketing officer, draft a customer care charter, promote research and new services development. If all these are catered for then the patients’ needs will be met and subsequently deriving patients’ satisfaction. Further research findings unearthed that materials costs control management affects service delivery in health institutions and this involves: restrictive storage and issuing procedures, restrictive purchasing procedures and policies, not employing a procurement officer and depending on credit purchases. These do affect the quality, quantity and the prices of the materials supplied. St. Ambrose Charity Health Centre should revisit its storage and issuing procedures, purchasing policies and procedures in order to provide for more flexible approaches that could improve on the pricing of the services and the effectiveness of the service delivery.