Challenges facing TragerField Integrated Health Centre

Tragerfield Integrated Health Centre 1
Challenges facing TragerField Integrated Health Centre
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Tragerfield Integrated Health Centre 2
Challenges facing TragerField Integrated Health Centre
Institutions located in the rural areas face challenges that their counterparts’ in the
urban areas do not face. Such institutions whether public or private face some challenges just
for the reason that their locations are in the countryside (Nahar, Kannuri, Mikkilineni,
Murthy, & Phillimore, P 2017, p. 15). Health facilities, banks, and any other organization that
serves the public in the rural areas feel the pinch of poor infrastructures like poor road
networks, clean water supply, and sometimes inadequate supply of electricity. Research in
Australia indicated that there is a difference in the allocation of health practitioners like
doctors between the rural areas and the facilities in the city. For instance, there are 142
doctors per a population of 100000 in rural Australia while the ratio in the county's urban
centers is 325 doctors per a population of 100000.
This disparity shows that apart from the doctor population ratio, there are some other
challenges such facilities face (Sheehan & Borowski 2014, p. 108). Tragerfield Integrated
Healthcare Centre, a medical facility located in the rural town of Tragerfield in Western
Australia. The facility has a bed capacity of 210 and also offers a primary care clinic that
cooperates with other allied health facilities. It serves the neighboring farming and mining
population totaling over 60000, a figure more prominent than the planned community in the
town.
Tragerfield integrated Healthcare Centre being a rural institution faces several
challenges just like any other institution based in the rural area. According to the Chief
executive in the facility, some of these challenges include shortage in the medical workforce.
This problem is brought by the fact that many health workers do not like working in the
countryside; a fact that complicates the process of recruitment of the much-needed workforce
(Freshwater & Trapasso 2014, p. 480). The challenging working and living conditions make
retention of workers low. Additionally, acquiring funds to facilitate the rural-based health

Tragerfield Integrated Health Centre 3
facilities has been difficult as only a few investors agree to invest their capital in such areas.
These factors lead to ineffective and inefficient utilization of the available resources such are
electricity.
Apart from the external challenges, there are some problems caused by the facilities
internally. Some of the workers in such rural institutions develop laziness and come up with
strategies to dodge the rules that govern the industry (CURRIE, DAVIES, & FERLIE 2016,
p. 750). The incompetent workers feel that there are no laws that can catch up with them
immediately. Such mentality lowers the rate of service provision in the organization.
Internal Challenges Facing Tragerfield Center
a) Inadequate use of available resources.
The hospital management has not put in practice the effective mechanisms to make maximum
utilization of the available resources such as the computers that could be used in the
appointment of patients.
b) Mishandling of transfer of patients
The removal of patients from the clinics to the inpatient department in the facility does not
meet the required standards (Nahar, Kannuri, Mikkilineni, Murthy & Phillimore 2017, p. 10).
There is consistent miscommunication between the two related departments, a situation that
leads to congestion in the hospital wards as excess patients are admitted.
c) Incompetence among the health workers
The visit by the Business Improvement Manager revealed how incompetent the staffs in the
facilities were. The fact that the theater rooms were lying empty while there were patients
who needed urgent surgical services proved that the workers were either incompetent or just

Tragerfield Integrated Health Centre 4
lazy (Sheehan & Borowski 2014, p. 11). The numerous cancellations of surgeries on patient’s
appointments yet the doctors were available.
d) Miscommunication between various department
The frequent miscommunication between the various departments in the hospital lead to the
congestions in some departments while there were some departments without patients
(HOLLAND, ‘JODY’, HATCHER, & MEARES 2018, p. 70). For instance,
miscommunication about the number of free beds in the wards may lead to overcrowding in
the wards when excess patients are admitted
Recommendations to Reduce the Challenges
Business Process Reengineering
This process includes a complete change in the structure of an organization with the
aim of improving service delivery in terms of quality, productivity, and the cycle times
(Freshwater & Trapasso 2014, p. 486). This action is necessary when there is a feeling that
the management may be part of the causes of the challenges faced in the institution. From the
case study, it is noted that the challenges faced by at the Tragerfield Healthcare Centre are
not basically external but the lack of proper utilization of the available resources. Business
process redesigning applies in this case in that the challenges are more of internal origin. The
fact that the hospital’s management does not make good use of the available resources makes
it worth the overhaul. The hospital's management needs to be changed completely to avoid
incompetency among the workers (CURRIE, DAVIES, & FERLIE 2016, p 753). It can be
noted that some staff members have the habit of being lazy given that they have mastered the