As part of its restructuring, the Ministry for Health and Human Services is creating two deputy chief officer positions and making changes to improve overall efficiency.
The changes follow a report by Deloitte which identified gaps in the ministry’s organisation and operations, according to a GIS press release.
Diane Montoya, chief officer at the ministry, explained the review process.
‘A review was requested because of the impending changes within the ministry and our desire to be proactive.
‘There is a need to improve the efficiency of many of the ministry’s current processes and to clarify roles and responsibilities in order to improve overall service delivery,’ she said.
The two deputy chief officers will be responsible for policy and operations, respectively.
‘One deputy chief officer will deal with the development of policy and legislation for the subject of health and those which come under human services; the other deputy will be responsible for the operational support units of finance, human resources and administration,’ Mrs. Montoya explained.
The details of these two jobs are almost complete.
‘We are finalising the job descriptions for the two deputy chief officers and these positions will be advertised shortly,’ she added.
The revised structure will allow the ministry to fulfil its goals, Mrs. Montoya said.
‘Our new structure, which is based on sound, justifiable and proven design principles, will allow us to achieve our mandate and respond to future challenges while achieving the strategic goals set by the Hon. Minister,’ she said.
These changes will have wide-ranging effects.
‘The proposed new structure will allow the ministry to shift from being reactive to proactive, and will permit staff to focus their energies on developing policy.
‘This will greatly enhance the ministry’s ability to support its departments and other government entities in developing a holistic approach for responding to the people’s needs,’ Mrs. Montoya said.
The review process included assessing performance agreements, job descriptions, policy and legislation, and conducting interviews and surveys both inside and outside the ministry.
‘Roles and responsibilities of Cayman’s ministries evolve to meet the current needs of the Islands, and our ministry recently underwent significant changes with the movement of subject areas within government. We’ve evaluated our structure to take a new strategic direction in order to achieve our mandate,’ she said.
The changes to the structure and other elements such as training, communications, rewards and incentives will support the ministry’s new priorities, according to the press release.
The changes are intended to improve overall efficiency, strengthen relationships with non-governmental organisations and private healthcare providers, and integrate different agencies providing health and human services.
‘Our aim is to be a forward-thinking ministry with clear objectives and a strong strategy on how to achieve them. In the end, it comes down to enabling us to better serve the needs of the people,’ Mrs. Montoya said.
The administrative division that deals with financial and operational matters has moved to Anderson Square, leaving more space in the Government Administration Building to expand the policy section in the ministry.
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