Abstract
The purpose of this mixed- method research were 1) to study the benefits, welfare, and career progression of personnel of health promotion hospital under provincial administrative organizations 2) to explore the problems, challenges, recommendations for benefits, welfare, and career progression of personnel of health promotion hospital under provincial administrative organizations and 3) to develop policy proposals for benefits, welfare, and career progression of personnel of health promotion hospital under provincial administrative organizations. Quantitative data was collected using an online survey. The sample was healthcare personnel who transferred to work under provincial administrative organizations. A total sample of 430 healthcare personnel was selected by purposive sampling and then stratified random sampling according to the proportion of personnel. Qualitative data was collected from key informant including experts, executives of the Ministry of Public Health, executives of provincial administrative organizations, local health committee, person who has authority in human resource management, regional health officer, provincial public health officer, chief executive of the provincial administrative organization, director of the public health division, personal in health promotion hospital under provincial administrative organization, and the representative from provincial administrative organization. Then, the data was presented in the form of a seminar for experts to present a draft policy proposal. The results show that: 1. The benefits, welfare, and career progression of personnel of health promotion hospital under provincial administrative organizations from the qualitative data reveal that overall level of appropriateness of the rights, benefits, and career advancement of personnel is moderate which is consistent with the qualitative data as follows: 1.1 Benefit 1.1.1 In general, benefits are provided according to the guidelines for the transfer of healthcare center responsibilities. However, some budgets are slow to pay because they were not set before, but it has been fixed. 1. 1. 2 Performance evaluation for salary increase: in the past, the Ministry of Public Health evaluated performance based on key performance indicators. owever, in the previous round of evaluations, the provincial administrative organization had not yet implemented a plan for determining key performance indicators in performance evaluations. Therefore, the employees feel that the evaluation is unfair. 1.1.3 Payment regulations that are not conducive have an impact on benefits such as overtime pay. 1.2 Welfare: overall, the benefits received by personnel after the transfer remain the same. There is not much difference except for pensions. 1.3 Progression: the provincial administrative organization supports personnel to have career advancement according to the steps of career path planning. However, some careers cannot grow in their own field such as dental hygienist. Providing opportunities for training to develop expertise in a particular field. Moreover, transferred personnel still receive academic support from the provincial public health office. 1.4 The results of a study on the benefits, welfare, and advancement of health promotion hospitals personnel under the jurisdiction of the provincial administrative organization based on document analysis shows that there is no difference in the operating guidelines to support personnel to receive benefits, welfare, and advancement, as usual. 2. The results of a study of the problems, obstacles, recommendations for benefits, welfare, and advancement of personnel at health promotion hospitals under the jurisdiction of provincial administrative organizations shows that only some provinces that can provide benefits. The regulations for the employees of the Ministry of Public Health who will expire their contract in 2025 are not yet clear. The career advancement of non- civil servant personnel and Ministry of Public Health employees who do not have the opportunity to be promoted to civil servant positions. 3. The policy proposals for benefits, welfare, and advancement of personnel of the health promotion hospital under the jurisdiction of the provincial administrative organization can be summarized as follows: 3. 1 The Department of Local Administration should organize learning exchange activities and use communication processes for personnel to create an understanding of the original benefits, as each area has different operations, including as a guideline for operations for new areas that are about to be transferred. 3. 2 The Department of Local Administration should review regulations
that cannot be implemented such as payments from local governments to ensure that
personnel receive benefits, welfare, and career advancement at least at the same level
as before, various regulations that facilitate operations, including employment
regulations, ministry employees, temporary employees, as well as the personnel
management according to the size and differences of the locality. The Department of
Local Administration should review both the compensation for personnel in remote
and underdeveloped areas and establish clear procedures for paying overtime to
eligible officials who receive overtime compensation.
3. 3 Provincial administrative organizations should take steps to amend
and supplement the guidelines for hiring all types of personnel of health promotion
hospitals transferred to local administrative organizations to be appropriate and in line
with the mission so that they can increase compensation for maintenance employees,
resulting in the morale of the personnel.
3.4 Local administrative organizations should support the career advancement
of personnel in entering higher positions, such as special experts, changing careers, and
preparing manuals/ procedures/ regulations/ guidelines for practice and announcing
them to the public.
3.5 Praboromarajchanok Institute, Ministry of Public Health or other educational
institutions in Thailand should take the initiative to collaborate with their local
provincial administrative organizations. This collaboration could take many forms, such
as joint research projects, community service initiatives, or student internship programs.
3.6 The Department of Local Administration should expedite the matter
of the structure and management of staffing for health promotion hospitals to
accommodate and align with the increased responsibilities of transferred PHCs,
according to the health context of the area.
3.7 The local personnel management standard committee at the local
level should develop and implement the standards for personnel management at the
local level including the structure and framework of staffing, criteria for career
advancement, salaries and benefits, and other related matters.
