Quality Improvement in Procurement Management Practices at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital

Abstract

This research is a qualitative exploration of quality improvement of procurement management practices at the Greater Accra regional hospital (GARH). It was aimed at identifying how GARH continuously improves its procurement practices and the challenges they face in doing so. A case study design was employed to gather in-depth data from the internal supply chain stakeholders of the hospital. A purposive sampling technique was used and twelve participants were selected for the study. Out of the twelve participants, only seven of them were interviewed due to data saturation. The interviews were conducted on one-on-one basis using a semi-structured interview guide. A thematic content analysis approach was used to analyse data using themes that coincided with the research objectives. The findings revealed that the hospital complies with the Public procurement Act, Act 663 of 2003 and Act 914 of 2016. Based on these requirements the hospital has developed some quality improvement procedures for its procurement activities. Even though the study shows that the hospital has various policies in place to ensure the quality of its procurement activities, the policies have been impeded by various challenges. Some of these include weak monitoring of procurement contracts, lack of personnel to implement procurement processes and delays in the payment of suppliers. The results provide important contributions to the topic of public procurement. In particular, the research emphasizes the relevance of common criteria used in an actual selection of a supplier in a public health organization and the associated challenges to enhance the quality of procurement processes. The identified challenges could be used to guide the development of policies to enhance procurement processes in public health organizations.