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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Rebecca Dove

Name: Rebecca Dove
Background: Health Service Manager, NHS
VSO role: Management Adviser, Stung Treng hospital

In 2003 Rebecca left London to go Cambodia. She comments "I applied to work for VSO because I was keen to experience working in a developing country and was also attracted to the prospect of working as a volunteer."

Stung Treng is a remote province in the north east of Cambodia and borders Laos. The population of the province is approximately 100,000 and in addition to the referral hospital there are eight health centres. Many areas are accessible only by motorbike, and in the wet season only by boat.

Rebecca worked as a management adviser at Stung Treng's referral hospital. She explains:

The hospital director and management team had years of experience but very little management training so lacked confidence in carrying out their work. But working with them was rewarding. They were so keen to learn and to develop.

Rebecca focused efforts on the development of the management team through workshops, away days and one to one coaching. She also worked with colleagues to set up an equity fund to enable poor people to access hospital services without having to pay for treatment.

The results are impressive. The management team is now more proactive in areas such as planning and staff consultation. The provincial health department has greater confidence in their abilities, to the extent that the acting director of the hospital has been made permanent in that position. The equity fund has directly increased the proportion of the local population able to benefit from hospital services. Bed occupancy rates have increased and staff morale is on the up. A recent patient satisfaction survey revealed a greatly improved relationship, with the hospital management team confident that they have a greater understanding of patients' concerns and needs.

Rebecca was due to return to the UK in July this year however she is now working in Phnom Penh on a consultancy basis with the Cambodian Ministry of Health.

I want to take some time after this contract to look at my options, but I am keen to continue to work in management development either in the UK or abroad.

My placement has more than lived up to my expectations. The best things are working with a committed team and seeing the increase in healthcare for the poor; but I have sometimes been frustrated at the slow progress. The lesson I have learnt is that if development is to be sustainable it can take a long time to create the changes, but they last longer than if I jump in and do the work myself.

Some sections of this case study originally appeared in the Health Service Journal, 26 May 2005 © Emma Forrest.