An Exploration of Change Implementation within a Public Sector Organisation: Implementers' Perspectives on Transitioning the Clinical Services Division of the Victoria Hospital to the New National Hospital in Saint Lucia

The Ministry of Health in Saint Lucia has undertaken to transition its Victoria Hospital from traditional public sector operations to a self-governing facility, and the implementation of the institution's change strategy has failed to achieve set targets. This study explores the on-going transition of the Victoria Hospital through a focus on efforts at transitioning its Clinical Services Division (CSD) in order to: (1) Identify factors that impact OC implementation in the transition of CSD from VH-NNH, (2) Identify OC factors that facilitate and hinder OC implementation in the transition of CSD from VH-NNH, and (3) determine whether existing OC models can be utilised in order to guide the implementation of change from VH-NNH. Methods: This qualitative exploratory study examines the organisational change programme approximately six months into its execution. Documents relating to the transition and persons involved in the implementation of the on-going change programme served as data sources. This, in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the transitioning programme, and the factors perceived to impact the implementation transitioning activities. The Content, Context, Process dimensions of change provide a framework for the categorisation of these factors, as the means for describing and generating an understanding of the factors influencing the hospital's change implementation outcomes. Results: The results of the study demonstrated that communication is one of the most influential factors which impacted organisational change implementation outcomes in the VH-NNH transition; while some form of communication flow was seen to exist, the manner in which change actors communicate during the implementation of transitioning activities, is found in large measure, to pose a barrier to implementation efforts. Other influential factors impacting the implementation of change are considered to be consistent with existing theory and as such, may provide guidance to change implementers in driving the transition forward.msc_hrghunpub2311_ethesesunpu