Background
Antenatal care (care for pregnant women) is one of the basic components of reproductive health and soon-to-be mothers are expected to visit the antenatal clinic on a regular basis. In areas with many pregnant women and limited hospital resources, this can create an overwhelming situation for the health workers – meaning that less attention is given to the individual mothers. The Gwarinpa General Hospital in Abuja serves clients from several highly-populated areas, which has stretched the hospital’s resources and led to women complaining about long waiting times in the antenatal clinic.

About the project
This project was created to reduce excessive waiting time spent by mothers in the antenatal clinic, in order to lower the stress on both clients and staff and improve the health care delivery. Several changes were implemented in the hospital to make it more efficient. For example, a one-stop-one-shop payment was established so that the clients could pay for different types of services in one place. Separate appointment hours for mothers were also created and midwives were mobilized from other units on booking days to ensure enough staff members were available. In addition to this, the project team established a laboratory unit in the antenatal clinic, so that mothers could be tested on the same day.

Results
By the end of the project, the average waiting time spent by women in the antenatal clinic was reduced from seven to four hours. Many clients shared their appreciation with the hospital staff and staff members reported experiencing less stress after these changes had been made. Women who stopped attending the clinic due to the long waiting hours started returning again after hearing about the reduced waiting hours.

Year: 2006