The Ghana Health Service says it is working to make the Community Scorecard (CSC) a routine part of health service management to ensure that community feedback translates into practical improvements in healthcare delivery.
Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ghana Health Service, Dr Samuel Boakye-Boateng, said the CSC was developed in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service, with support from the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, ALMA.
Dr Boakye-Boateng explained that the Community Scorecard provides a structured platform for communities and health service providers to assess healthcare experiences, identify what is working and what is not, understand the reasons behind challenges and agree on actions to improve services.
Delivery a key note address on a webinar organized by AMMREN, Dr Boakye-Boateng said at the CHPS level, communities assess services quarterly across nine indicators, discuss concerns and develop Community Health Action Plans with clearly defined responsibilities.
The scores and action plans, he added, are recorded in the District Health Information Management System, (DHIMS2), and the Community Scorecard web platform to facilitate monitoring, review and follow-up. “The value of a scorecard lies not in the colour of an indicator, but in what happens after the scoring session.”
Dr Boakye-Boateng said Community Health Action Plans are central to the process because they link identified concerns to specific responses that can be monitored and reviewed. He cited instances where communities have mobilized resources to improve infrastructure and waste management, while local health teams have responded to concerns about access to services.
According to him, such experiences demonstrate how community participation can turn feedback into tangible improvements in healthcare delivery.
Sustaining the Community Scorecard
Dr Boakye-Boateng said the Ghana Health Service’s ambition is to move the Community Scorecard from being viewed as a stand-alone project to becoming a routine component of health service management. He said training must therefore be supported by reliable data, effective facilitation, regular reviews and follow-up.
He also called for inclusive participation to ensure that the experiences of vulnerable and often-overlooked groups are reflected in the scorecard process.
On the role of health workers, Dr Boakye-Boateng said community feedback is the responsibility of all staff, as concerns may relate to clinical care, nursing, pharmacy, laboratory services, infrastructure, health promotion, administration, financing or management.
He said facility managers are expected to review concerns raised by communities and address issues within their control, while district health teams will support facilities, resolve matters requiring district-level intervention and follow up on outstanding commitments.
At the regional and national levels, he said, the findings will be used to identify recurring challenges and guide supportive supervision, planning and resource allocation.
Media role
Dr Boakye-Boateng also urged journalists to play a more active role in the Community Scorecard process, describing the media as a bridge between communities, health managers, policy-makers and the public. “Through responsible, evidence-based reporting, you can amplify community experience, draw attention to persistent service-delivery gaps, highlight improvement and good practice, and sustain public interest in whether commitments are fulfilled.”
He urged journalists to go beyond reporting the colour of an indicator and investigate the issues behind the score.
He said reporters should find out what communities experienced, the explanation provided by health facilities, what action was agreed, who is responsible and whether the situation has changed.
Dr Boakye-Boateng said the Ghana Health Service, for its part, is committed to engaging openly with the media, providing information and clarification, sharing evidence, explaining challenges and reporting progress.
He stressed that the credibility of the Community Scorecard depends on follow-through and accountability. Dr Boakye-Boateng reiterated that the Community Scorecard is ultimately about giving communities a voice, ensuring that their concerns are heard and translating their feedback into action to improve the quality and responsiveness of healthcare services.
