External Mandate for the Swiss Intermediate Body (Fund Manager) of the Thematic Fund
Project Abstract
The public health system in Romania faces major challenges, despite considerable progress in recent years. Switzerland’s contribution to the enlarged EU therefore supports ongoing health reforms in a number of areas, helping in turn to improve overall basic healthcare provision in Romania. To this end, a thematic fund was set up which finances specific projects aimed at improving healthcare. The focus is on intensive care and emergency medicine as well as facilitating access to basic medical care in remote regions.
The programme is managed by a consortium of Swiss TPH and CRED foundation (Romania), a Swiss TPH affiliated Romanian NGO. The consortium combines Swiss expertise, the Swiss TPH national and international networks, with regional experience in the Eastern European transition economies, and international expertise in maternal and infant health, emergency care and family and community health. It forms the “Swiss Intermediate Body (SIB)” to manage the “Technical Fund Health (TF-Health)” of the Swiss contribution to the cohesion funds for Romania.
The SIB manages the TF-Health funds, identifies fields for investment and potential executing agencies, prepares calls for tenders, controlling, and organises seminars/ workshops to increase the capacity of executing agencies. It facilitates the development, coaching, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects contracted to Romanian entities in the area of emergency care, paediatric intensive care and community integrated care in order to strengthen the countrywide medical and community response to people’s acute and chronic and long term care needs.
At present (April 2019) two projects – the first phase of the Emergency Care project (Training update of emergency teams and Emergency room management) and the Paediatric Intensive care project (developing a training program leading to a specialisation in Paediatric Intensive Care) – have been successfully completed. A second phase of the Emergency Care project focusing on the training of dispatch agents is ongoing.
Another project in this thematic area is to introduce simulation technology in the training for emergency care staff. The project is currently in its procurement phase, which will be concluded with a Training of Trainers phase in May/June 2019
A community component establishing and capacity building medico-social centres in 7 rural Romanian communities has also be successfully completed. The projects driven by local authorities, social workers and community nursing improved considerably access to health and social services for elderly and the chronically ill. It also contributed to social cohesion at community level and reduced significantly the need of emergency care interventions and hospital stays. The projects are currently evaluated and capitalisation events (e.g. regional and national conferences and workshops, evaluation reports) are planned in May 2019.
All project activities will be completed by end of 2019.