Community Service for Health Professionals

Abstract

The one-year period of community service (CS) for health professionals has been implemented since 1998, with doctors, dentists and pharmacists now being routinely allocated to a 12-month period of service in public institutions, on completion of their formal training. A further 7 professional groups will follow in 2003, including physiotherapists, occupational and speech therapists, clinical psychologists, dieticians, radiographers and environmental health officers. The aim of CS, according to the Department of Health, is “to ensure improved provision of health services to all citizens of the country”. The chapter reports on a number of findings that are measured against this overall goal. With respect to the responses of all three professional groups currently undergoing CS, there were a number of patterns that were notably similar. Firstly, despite difficulties and frustrations, the majority felt that they had made a difference and had undergone some professional development. Overall, most described their experience of the year as positive in retrospect, but only a minority reported that their attitude had become more positive during the year. Supervision of CS doctors, dentists and pharmacists by more senior professionals was found to be significantly poorer in rural than in urban settings. The