Titrating Mentorship to Local Needs to Strengthen Leadership and Management in Hospitals
1
Clinton Health Access Initiative, Pretoria, South Africa
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The performance of public sector hospitals across South Africa is highly variable and inconsistent. Challenges have been well - documented and recommendations poorly implemented. Mentorship is an evidence based, cost effective intervention that has shown to improve competency and performance. This project explores the challenges, opportunities and learnings from implementing a mentorship programme in South Africa.
METHODS:
The need for mentorship was unanimously confirmed during provincial consultations. 14 hospitals across 5 provinces were nominated. A high - level exploration was undertaken to understand the local context and challenges. Highly experienced hospital managers were contracted as mentors. Mentors engaged the relevant teams and individuals thro’ both in person and virtual sessions at least monthly for 10-12 months. Feedback sessions were arranged with the mentor collective to share lessons. A mentee survey is being conducted to solicit their experiences and ideas to improve the programme. A final review of the programme will be undertaken.
RESULTS:
There were significant time lags in securing approval and buy in from different layers of the bureaucracy. Local and systemic challenges impact on hospital performance. Unstable local and provincial management, competing priorities of busy managers, logistical challenges, budget pressures impacted negatively on the costs and performance of the programme. The varying needs of the hospitals required flexible interventions. Areas of focus were general leadership and management, Human resources, finance and supply chain management. Areas of improvement included strategic planning and risk management, improved knowledge of absenteeism management, better expenditure control such as lab costs, and improved linen management and a better sense of confidence in tackling local problems.
CONCLUSIONS:
The need for workplace - based support in hospitals is huge. Several systemic issues are not amenable to local mentorship. Measuring impact attributed to mentorship proved challenging. Models that address scalability and sustainability should be explored.
The performance of public sector hospitals across South Africa is highly variable and inconsistent. Challenges have been well - documented and recommendations poorly implemented. Mentorship is an evidence based, cost effective intervention that has shown to improve competency and performance. This project explores the challenges, opportunities and learnings from implementing a mentorship programme in South Africa.
METHODS:
The need for mentorship was unanimously confirmed during provincial consultations. 14 hospitals across 5 provinces were nominated. A high - level exploration was undertaken to understand the local context and challenges. Highly experienced hospital managers were contracted as mentors. Mentors engaged the relevant teams and individuals thro’ both in person and virtual sessions at least monthly for 10-12 months. Feedback sessions were arranged with the mentor collective to share lessons. A mentee survey is being conducted to solicit their experiences and ideas to improve the programme. A final review of the programme will be undertaken.
RESULTS:
There were significant time lags in securing approval and buy in from different layers of the bureaucracy. Local and systemic challenges impact on hospital performance. Unstable local and provincial management, competing priorities of busy managers, logistical challenges, budget pressures impacted negatively on the costs and performance of the programme. The varying needs of the hospitals required flexible interventions. Areas of focus were general leadership and management, Human resources, finance and supply chain management. Areas of improvement included strategic planning and risk management, improved knowledge of absenteeism management, better expenditure control such as lab costs, and improved linen management and a better sense of confidence in tackling local problems.
CONCLUSIONS:
The need for workplace - based support in hospitals is huge. Several systemic issues are not amenable to local mentorship. Measuring impact attributed to mentorship proved challenging. Models that address scalability and sustainability should be explored.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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