The Master in Public Administration (MPA) enrolled in the Public Service Improvement Administration (PA 215) class under the supervision of the Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Malu C. Barcillano, conducted a Service Improvement Workshop for the Bicol Region General Hospital and Geriatric Medical Center’s (BRGHGMC) Transportation Services Section on March 31, 2023. It was organized to help improve the services and responsiveness and address the issues of the day-to-day operations of the Transportation Services Section. The Service Improvement Workshop employed a series of activities that provided a better understanding of the importance of “Service Excellence”, recognized customer expectations, developed customer feedback tools, and identified hurdles in the delivery of its services.
The activity started with a short prayer and the singing of the Philippine National Anthem led by Ms. Karla Sharmaine Austero. Ms. Mikhael Jovane Saguion presented the flow of the activity. Thereafter, Mr. George Gabriel VII Bordado delivered the opening remarks and introduced the participants.
Ms. Kristine Charlene Joven gave input on Service Excellence emphasizing the capability to meet and exceed customer expectations. She emphasized that a holistic management strategy is needed to ensure satisfaction and encourage customer patronage. Further, it highlighted the need to support the achievement of service excellence, an organization needs to establish Service Standards that detail the varying levels of acceptable behavior among employees in dealing with customers and define what excellent service means in the organization. This includes assuring quality, responsiveness, and parameters that will satisfy their clients.
Further, to be able to come up with the proposed action plans to improve the services, a unit needs to identify issues and hurdles in the operations, thus, a Service Assessment Report was presented. Being an employee of BRGHGMC himself, Mr. Eugene Steve Aguilar, who serves as the Planning Officer and is responsible for consolidating and reporting the hospital’s Client Experience Survey response, discussed the expectations of the patients including the personnel that the Transport Services cater to.
The assessment report presented allowed the participants to identify gaps and the possible recommendations that can be implemented to address them. Ms. Emerlie Rayala and Mr. Kevin Paul Caganda facilitated the service improvement workshop. The participants were divided into small groups to discuss and identify their recommendations to address the issues presented. The most critical issue identified was the need for a safe and more responsive service for the transport of emergency patients.
Rounding up what transpired during the activity was Ms. Mary Jean Canchela, highlighting the importance of identifying the timeline for the proposed activities and plans. She made a recap of the importance of implementing the steps to achieve service excellence, improve the delivery of the services, and client satisfaction.
Delivering the closing remarks was Mr. Vince Mikko Uvas, who was a participant himself being the Head of Transport Services. In his speech, he thanked the personnel for their participation and asked for their continued support to achieve the identified improvements that were identified. He continued thanking the class for conducting the service audit of the section with the commitment to seeking the support of the hospital’s management and ensuring that the plans would materialize.
Before the activity was concluded, Dr. Malu C. Barcillano expressed her appreciation to the participants and BRGHGMC’s management for accommodating the class in conducting the Service Audit.
Prepared by:
Eugene Steve Aguilar
MPA-GS student
