PM Network - February 2015

hospital will serve as a regional model for how PPP projects can improve clinical care and expand the capacity of health systems.

Before the facility even begins accepting patients, the project offered lessons learned to public health practitioners. From the start, the project team encountered unexpected changes in the original real estate plot and public-side funding levels. “The private side of the PPP had to act very quickly to raise a significant amount of money,” Mr. Cohick says.

Given these unexpected developments, flexibility
and teamwork were essential. “The most important
thing wasn’t the plan; it was the planning,” he says.
UCL Healthcare Services proved especially valuable:
“When the project’s funding structure changed, UCL
coordinated with its partners to effectively approach
banks and investors—both within and outside of
Nigeria—in response to the challenge.”
Local partners will remain critical going forward.

Stakeholders want local Nigerian leaders to be integral
to the future of the hospital and Cross River State’s
healthcare system. For that reason, the project team
has worked hard to involve the local medical commu-
nity. Because the facility is a referral hospital—it will
provide secondary specialist care to patients referred
by primary physicians—strong connections to doc-
tors and other medical professionals in the area will
generate the patients it needs to succeed.

This kind of on-the-ground support is especially important when the project sponsor is a government with regular leadership changes due to term limits. “Politicians don’t always honor the commitments made by their predecessors, so continuity of relationships is really important,” Mr. Cohick says.

The quality of care provided by the new hospital will ultimately be the measure of benefits realized by the project, however. To bolster that quality, the project team took a phased approach to launching medical services. Although the hospital eventually will specialize in pediatric health, specialty surgery and maternal care, it is launching with just ambulatory healthcare and supporting diagnostic services. After reviews to confirm mastery of those operations, the team will implement additional specialty services throughout 2015 and beyond.

“Ideally the triggers for launches won’t be a date on the calendar, but measurable milestones of how well we’re doing things,” Mr. Cohick says. “That allows us to start small, get the quality right, and then expand our volume from there.”