COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTHCARE RELATIONS IN NIGERIAN HOSPITALS: ADVANCING INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATION AMONG HEALTH SERVICE WORKERS

Abstract

The relationship between hospitals and the communities they serve is crucial for enhancing healthcare quality, fostering community confidence, and achieving improved health outcomes. In Nigeria, health service delivery faces persistent institutional barriers, including insufficient leadership support, professional silos, limited financial resources, cultural diversity, ineffective communication, and weak policy implementation. These barriers impede meaningful community participation in many Nigerian health facilities and have resulted in low utilisation of healthcare services, diminished patient satisfaction, and ongoing health inequalities, especially among rural and underserved populations. This paper examines the benefits and barriers of community-based relations in healthcare through a conceptual review of community participation in hospital management, inclusive participation, and strategies for strengthening community-based relations. Key strategies discussed include promoting active community participation in hospital decision-making, enhancing communication between hospitals and communities, strengthening feedback mechanisms, and fostering cultural competence among healthcare workers. The paper concludes that effective community participation requires the involvement of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists, community health workers, environmental health officers, social workers, hospital administrators, health information managers, and support staff, all collaborating with community members. Establishing sustainable community-based relationships is essential for strengthening the Nigerian health system and advancing Universal Health Coverage.