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About Villa Maria Hospital

NAME AND IDENTITY OF THE HOSPITAL
The Hospital belongs to the network of Catholic Health Institutions in Uganda and is called Villa Maria Hospital and St. Lawrence Villa Maria Nurses Training School.

OWNERSHIP
The Legal and Registered Owner of the Hospital is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Masaka in the person of the Board of Trustees of the diocese.
If not otherwise specified in this text, its annexes and in the Hospital bylaws, powers of signatory for the hospital are held by its Board of Trustees

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HOSPITAL
Villa Maria Hospital is 11 kms away from Nyendo / Masaka Town.  It was started in 1902 by the White Sisters known as (Sisters of Our Lady of Africa).  It developed from strength to strength, providing curative and preventive and promotive medical services.  It is the major Hospital serving Kalungu District.

MISSION STATEMENT
This Mission Statement follows from the Mission Statement of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, which has been integrally adopted by the diocese of Masaka.
The Mission of Villa Maria Hospital is, based on the imitation of Christ and His deeds, to promote life to the full and to heal.  The hospital is therefore committed to a holistic, integrated and sustainable action in health.  This includes treatment, prevention, health promotion, social welfare and economic empowerment through community programmes and training of health workers
The hospital will aim to promote access to health care for the less privileged and vulnerable social groups like women, children, the financially destitute and the chronically ill.  To this purpose the hospital is a non-profit making institution of the Church.

Since the person is at the centre of all activities of the hospital, a basic attitude or respect for the human dignity will be the guidance for all and no distinctions of ethnic origin, social status; religious or political affiliation will be made.  The principle of subsidiarity will therefore be applied with equity in all relationships within the hospital network.
Justice, universality and equality will mark the work of all the officers and staff members of Villa Maria Hospital.  Their work will be done in a professional way and in a spirit of total dedication and transparency in accordance with the catholic ethical code.  Human life being sacred, the basic attitude of all personnel will be the healing of the person with total respect for life.

Vision: To be the leading provider of quality, affordable, holistic health care in Kalungu and surrounding districts.

Core Values:    Give equal opportunity to all in equal need.
Uphold and cherish honesty, confidentiality, and professionalism
Uphold human dignity and rules of natural justice.
Strong belief in constant improvement.
Placing the patient at the centre of everything that we do, regardless of colour, gender, tribe, nationality, religion or social status at the heart of everything we do, regardless of gender, tribe, nationality, colour, religion or social status.
Value all stake–holders in health and consider ourselves accountable to them.

HEALTH POLICY
Villa Maria Hospital is committed to – and shall implement the Policies of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and Sports as well as ministry of gender, labour and social development of Uganda and the relevant international health policies when these are not contradictory to the RCC ethical codes.  It works in close collaboration with the Health Co-ordination Office of Diocese Masaka and the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau (UCMB).  The hospital and school will adapt the policies to the situation of the population it is responsible for, and develop a plan of implementation at least every five years.
   
GOALS
In order to implement its mission and policy as stated above, Villa Maria Hospital will strive towards the following goals:
    
Holistic approach
The hospital will endeavour to take the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of the person into account in all its services.  In this perspective the hospital considers promotion of health and prevention of disease as integral part of its mission.  It will allocate adequate time and resources to these services for its established catchment population.  The active involvement of the communities, the political and religious leaders, church organizations and catholic schools will be pursued in the promotion of health of the population.
    
Equity and sustainability
The hospital will actively pursue access to all services for the entire population, of its established area of responsibility, especially for the less privileged and vulnerable.  The hospital recognizes that sustaining accessible and high quality services requires:
Good management and continuous efficiency gains;
Gaining reputation for quality, friendly and compassionate service;
Strict application of the not for profit rationale;
Accountability and transparency;
Specific skills, well founded arguments and proven performance of access public and other funding sources.
      
Integration in the national and district health system
The hospital will operate as part of the national and Kalungu district health system.  The package of curative, preventive and promotional services, activities and support actions will be in accordance with the responsibilities for the hospital’s catchment population.  The hospital will pursue sound working relationship with district health authorities and all the health units in the sub-district.  Advocacy for the population and full partnership will be based on the extent and quality of the services provided, community participation and thorough knowledge of the community needs.
     
  Professionalism, quality care and training
The hospital will pursue the highest professional level in carrying out its services, activities, planning and reporting.  Quality care and compassionate, friendly attitude shall be the rule in the hospital.  Formal training shall be promoted when needed, but emphasis shall be put on in-service training through the utilization of existing resources in the catholic and national network.  Development of human resources for the preventive and promotive actions as well as to strengthen the co-operation with the district will be emphasized.
    
Professional Training
The general purpose of the school is to pursue high standards of training according to the national curriculum and the Hospital Mission and the RCC Ethical Code.  The training and mentoring of students will aim at the development of the person as a self-responsible professional with a moral standard consistent with the RCC Mission in Health.  In training health workers the hospital and school administration will focus on training an optimal range of health care workers with high morals and professional standards specifically in enrolled comprehensive nursing, enrolled midwifery and diploma in midwifery and nursing as and when approved by the nursing council by imitating Jesus Christ in healing ministry.

  OBJECTIVES
The hospital aims at providing a healing environment for the sick, their families and communities, inspired by the example of Jesus Christ and guide by the Catholic Social and Ethical teachings.
For this reason the Hospital shall endeavour to achieve the following objectives:
To provide the curative services, as described for a HSD referral hospital, to the population of the established catchment area, to patients referred by other health units, and those requesting assistance;

To provide integrated preventive and promotive health care services and socio – economic development when applicable to the people of the established catchment area in accordance with the stated national and catholic health policies;

To secure the presence in the Hospital of an Apostolic Community composed by Religious, Clergy and Catholic Lay-Christians to animate the people of God gathered in the hospital.

To ensure that the services are financially accessible for the vulnerable and less privileged;

To plan, budget and manage the service in a cost effective and sustainable manner;

To collect, compile, analyze and use service provision and management information in view of improving the effectiveness of the health actions and the efficiency of the hospital.

To ensure that the hospital compiles, each year, with the accreditation criteria set by the Archdiocesan Health Co-ordination and the UCMB.

To select and train the students in accordance with the national curriculum and prepare for national examinations well ahead of time;

To plan, budget and manage the school in a cost effective way and sustainable way.

GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
The Owner of the hospital will be the Custodian of the Mission and maintain continuity of the hospital by assigning and delegating functions as follows.
    
The Board of Governors (BOG)
This is the supreme policymaking, governing and controlling organ for the internal and external actions of the Hospital.  It is appointed by the Bishop.  The functions and composition of the Board of Governors are in the Appendix…….
     
Hospital Management Team (HMT)
The HMT will be the top management in the hospital and is charged with the day to day running of the hospital, implementing the policies set up by the BOG, and providing the BOG with all the information required to determine the policies, monitor implementation and take strategic decisions.  The HMT will assure the same day-to-day duties towards the District Health Authorities.  The officers of the hospital and their functions are detailed in Appendix III.
     
Committees
Committees composed of members of the two organs and co-opted members when necessary will assist the two above bodies.  Additional committees can be instated if developments indicate the need.
   
Executive Committee
The BOG shall appoint this committee.  It will consist of some of the Board of Governors members who will have voting powers plus the Medical and Administrative directors of the hospital.  The main function is to deal with urgent ad-hoc issues.
  
Financial Committee
The Finance Committee is charged with assisting the management team with developing sound financial policies and plans, monitoring and adapting implementation.  The details regarding composition and functions are in Appendix IV.
   
The Quality Assurance, Discipline and Grievance Committee
The Quality Assurance, Discipline and Grievance committee is charged with enabling the hospital bodies and staff to continuously improve the quality of the health services and to assure impartial management of discipline and grievances.  The details on composition and functions are in Appendix IV.
   
The Pastoral, Social and Ethical Committee
The Pastoral, Social and Ethical Committee is charged with enabling the hospital bodies and workers to uphold the highest holistic care standards for health services as determined by the RCC in Uganda.  The composition and functions are in Appendix IV.
   
The Recruitment and Training Committee
The Recruitment and Training Committee is charged with enabling the hospital bodies and workers to uphold transparent personnel development and promotion standards as determined by the RCC in Uganda, the hospital Charter and the human resource establishment and development plan.
    
Other Committees
Additional committees can and will be initiated when specific issues require more in-depth and speedy reactions.  Possible others are: Housing, practical research and regular evaluations, etc. (this will be considered in 5 years to come)
     
  The Advisory Assembly
The Bishop and the hospital board will call an advisory assembly of representatives of all the stakeholders each year in view of accounting for the past year and to receive advisory inputs for the next year.  The composition and functions of the Advisory Assembly are in the Appendix I        
MANAGEMENT OF FINANCIAL AND MATERIAL RESOURCES
The hospital is a Not for Profit organization.  The financial management will be ruled by the principles of accessibility for the poor, cost effectiveness, long-term sustainability and transparency.  To this purpose the officers of the Hospital shall manage the financial and material resources professionally.

The Hospital shall ensure that books of accounts are kept with respect to all financial and material resources received and expended as well as maintain an inventory of the fixed and other assets of the Hospital.  The accounts will be audited externally at the end of each fiscal year by an auditor appointed by the Board of Governors in agreement with the Bishop.

The same principles of financial management apply to the school.  To this effect the school will have separate books and accounts to ensure full accountability and transparency.  In case of financial and / or material exchanges between the hospital and school both set of accounts will reflect them clearly as income or expenditures (in case of in kind exchanges these will be valued at the going market rates.)  The school will maintain its own fixed and other assets registers.  The school accounts will also be audited externally at the end of each financial.
     
   PARTNERSHIP
The hospital will enter into partnerships, with Government and NGOs, for purposed of promoting health and the provision of effective health care services.  These partnerships will only be undertaken with the approval of the BOG and the Diocesan Authorities and when the partner is willing to respect the identity and autonomy of the hospital.  Twinning the hospital and the NTS with similar institutions overseas will be done with consent of BOG and diocesan authorities.
     
DAILY IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS CHARTER
The principles and aims of this Charter will be translated in to guidelines and tools for implementation, which will be updated regularly in order to adapt to health service and hospital management needs.  These instruments will at least consist in:
The Code of Ethics of Catholic Health Services
The Management Manual including;
The Employment Manual / Human Resources Management Manual
The Financial Management Manual
The Material Resources Management Manual

The BOG will install specific bylaws and regulations when the need arises.  The HMT, committees and staff representatives will be consulted during the process of adapting existing instruments or devising new ones.  Once adopted the instruments will be made known to all relevant internal and external stakeholders.
       
ORGANIZATION OF THE HOSPITAL
The hospital will be organized in departments, each of which will be headed by a professional with adequate qualifications, as specified in the hospital establishment and related job-description.  The Head of each department will be Member of the Management Team.

The Departments of the hospital will be:
Medical, headed by a doctor who will take the title of Medical Director
Nursing, headed by a nurse who will take the title of Nursing Director.  This will have an assistant with the title of the deputy nursing director.
Administration, headed by professional in administration / accounting / management who will take the title of Administrative Director.
Nurses Training, headed by a Tutor who will take the title of Nursing Training Director.
AIDS Program headed by AIDS Program Coordinator.

The HMT will be headed by a Chief Executive proposed by the Board of Governors and appointed by the Bishop from among the Members of the Team on the basis of professional profile, managerial skills, personal authority and loyalty to the Mission of the Hospital.
     
  POWERS OF SIGNATORY
The powers of committing the Hospital and its assets pertain the Owner who will, at his discretion, delegate them according to need within the frame of the existing laws.
       
AMENDMENT OF THIS CHARTER
This Charter and / or its annexes will be amended by the Bishop at any time changes in the internal and external environment will make it necessary, by own initiative or on proposal of the Board or Governors.