Erin Lloyd is technical advisor for PT Affinity health Indonesia, part of the global health group Australian Ramsay health, which has hospitals in Australia, the UK, France, Malaysia and soon, China. In Indonesia, RS Premier Bintaro hospitals are, Jatinegara and Surabaya.
Erin, how did you get started in health care, and what brought you to the role in Indonesia?
I trained as a nurse, working in Australia hospitals in a variety of clinical work roles in the quality of training before taking my Masters in Health Management. I joined the Ramsay Group in 1995. The opportunity came in 2007 for a technical adviser based in Bintaro, and I applied. I'm attracted to the challenge of the role - and the incredible travel opportunities living in Indonesia offers
What is the role of technical advisor entail?
My work is all about standards, quality and policy - I am here to give advice on these areas from the perspective of a small and help train the teams. My major goal for the last five years has reached the standards of the International Joint Commission on Accreditation (JCI) for hospitals. We can now say that we are one of the countries 665 organizations accredited to 61 who meet this overall framework, best practices. One result of this has been to increase the number of expatriates who seek treatment with us (although this is not an explicit goal of ours) and the number of surgeries we do.
What is the group's position in the private healthcare market in Indonesia? How do you differentiate?
We believe we are at the top of the market as regards the standards. hospital occupancy is good, but there is always room for improvement. We stand with our emphasis on infection control. Our practice in this area we have set before other hospitals - which would probably admit themselves! Fortunately, so far we have had no major disasters, because we focus on risk mitigation.
How do you assess the level of health care in Indonesia today, and what are the main challenges facing the industry?
It evolves. I have seen major changes in my time here. Now, more and more hospitals receive international accreditations, and this will improve standards. Nurse training also improves, which is positive. Things are going in the right direction, although many challenges remain: first, to get good doctors for more specialized areas such as oncology or complex surgery can still be difficult. Along with this, you also need other specialists trained as ICU and rehabilitation experts, and even nurses and ancillary services such as dieticians.
A big problem is to get the equipment in Indonesia, complex machines to basic things like beds. medical equipment as well as real medicine is extortionately imposed as a "luxury". This is certainly wrong Indonesia's ability to regional competition. Finally, the infrastructure here is still a challenge for health, as it does for many industries.
Many Indonesians still prefer to go abroad for treatment. Why is that and do you think this will change in the future?
Yes, expatriates nearly always go abroad for care, and in our hospitals about 40% of Indonesians also choose Singapore or elsewhere. First, some specialized areas such as oncology are not yet perfect. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the communication of doctors is a problem.
Traditionally, smart people become doctors, that's just -. But you also have strong communication skills
We recognize that and invest in the training of our doctors. Of course, people also go abroad to clinical capacity, but again we treat that with knowledge, training and infection control.
When you see that Indonesia will be able to compete with its neighbors in the region for health care?
difficult question! We think perhaps a decade. Accreditations like JCI will make a big difference. Since it is based on best practice evidence, physicians and staff are more engaged because they can understand the "why". For us, a great challenge to get our accreditation soil became buy-in of staff; management has worked hard on this. We also made significant financial commitments in things like training hours. This will take time, but Indonesia can do it!
What do you think that the Indonesian health care in 2030?
There will be an increase in off-site care - digitalisation is undoubtedly the way forward. I like to think that we will have thirty hospitals in our group then (if the rules and regulations in the purchase process are relaxed), all connected through telemedicine. One of the main reasons to continue growing in Indonesia is to provide opportunities for staff as they continue to increase the skills, otherwise I fear we are losing people and our investment in them.
What impact do you think the Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (Social Security Healthcare Provider) national scheme will have on your business?
I think will be great for BPJS Indonesia. It's early, but everyone deserves the fundamental right of access to care. I wish that the patients learn to value the public sector and use. At present, we do not accept patients of the regime, but we are considering it.
If even a country like the United States has had a difficult start with Medicare, do you think it is wise of Indonesia to try to roll the BPJS on at once?
Yes, I do, from the quality point of view. Everyone deserves access to care, regardless of their location - and if you tried to split, where do you start? Inequality is already a problem with the citizens of big cities like Jakarta able to obtain care than those in rural areas. The BPJS should facilitate this.
What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is the people I work with. We have achieved a lot as a team. I return to it, but with something like JCI accreditation, you can not succeed with a great team that works well together. Now, as a group, we work more cohesively rather than in silos. It is very rewarding.
Thank you Erin. To contact, please email lloyde@ramsayhealth.co.id