Message from CEOs Desk

It is with great pleasure that I welcome us to this maiden edition of the Lily Group Newsletter. This project has long been in the works for a while now and I must therefore commend the Group Lead Human Resources, her team, and the marketing team for bringing it to fruition.

I sincerely want to wish you the best compliments of the season and a blissful 2023.

The external global and national events that played out in the past few years, particularly in 2022, have significantly impacted businesses and individuals, Lily Hospitals being inclusive as well. However, it is pertinent that we count our blessings and give thanks to God that we are still alive and have been able to make progress at individual levels and collectively as a business.

Please permit me to use this medium to sincerely appreciate you all for your invaluable contributions and efforts toward keeping the Lily Brand in business. It is my hope that we will go even a notch further as we adopt new strategies which we believe will help us navigate successfully through the murky waters of these unprecedented times.

This year 2023, I’ll expect us all to buy into our new culture of caring and learning, thus ensuring that we remain profitable as a business. We will be focusing more on the customer, delivering exceptional care in a friendly environment. We will rely on relevant data and feedbacks from patients and staff to help in monitoring our progress in this regards. We will be more focused on improving on our business processes to provide a more positive experience of care to staff and patients.

Over the years and quite notably from recent feedback, Lily Hospitals have received accolades and commendations for our quality clinical outcomes. However, from feed backs, the overall experience that our customers receive during their journey through our service points have not been top notch to say the least. This sub-optimal customer experience has negatively impacted repeat business from some of our customers. This year, we hope to make a great positive difference, with the help of our Customer Experience Team and the renewed commitment of our front-line staff. The phrase “customer is king” would come to the front and center of all our operations, ensuring that our patients and customers receive outstanding care in a friendliest environment. This expected show of charity will certainly begin at home, as management expects all staff to show optimal care to one another, while also committing to walking the talk in this respect.

I hope we all remain committed to continuous self-improvement, and should take advantage of the various learning opportunities that has been provided by management. These include the Harvard Management Program, our collaboration with Nexford Online University in the USA, as well as other learning initiatives that will be anchored by the Human Resource team and the Lily Leadership Academy. Keep your personal development plan and we shall work with you to achieve them.

This year has been predicted to be likely economically tougher than 2022, with the weakening of the Naira, the Russian-Ukraine war, insurgencies and upcoming general elections, all resulting in high inflation. We should therefore prepare and keep our eyes on the ‘ball’. I am calling for your cooperation and active participation as we take measures to strengthen our position against this predicted unfriendly economic climate, ensuring yourselves and Lily continue to grow. One initiative in this direction is to reduce waste and improve our processes using the instrumentality of Kaizen.

As part of our strategies to weather the storm, we are taking concrete steps towards expanding our services in 2023. Some of these projects are already in the works and would be operationalized in the course of the year. Our Ughelli Hospital would commence operations by Q2 while we hope to launch our genetic laboratory in Benin by Q1. We are also rebranding our Okuokoko facility as well as hoping to take up the operations of few other hospitals within Warri and PH metropolis. Lily Prime-care is a new brand that we are launching to accommodate patients at the base of the economic pyramid, as part of our competitive strategy. Work has also commenced on the site for our proposed College of Nursing in Warri, which should hopefully take-off by September 2023. We will also be strengthening our foothold in Lagos, particularly through the Care-point Hospital, Egbeda, where some of our staff members are currently operating from. All of these expansion activities should open-up opportunities for promotion to leadership and managerial roles for some of us who meet the criteria. We must therefore prepare ourselves whenever we are called upon to assume new roles.

Finally, I will like to reassure everyone of our continued commitment to improving the well-being of all staff, while thanking you once again for your partnerships and all the efforts you make, most not seen or acknowledged, in making Lily Hospitals what it is and can be, and keeping faith that we will achieve our vision to be one of the leading healthcare organizations in West Africa by 2030.

God bless you all and Happy New Year.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Austin Okogun
Chief Executive Officer.

Lily Hospitals Limited

 

Improving the Quality of Healthcare Professionals through Learning & Development – Gabriel Okoro

With attention now shifting to better patient outcomes and improved customers’ experience, healthcare providers are now investing more in training and development activities that will not only equip their clinical and non-clinical teams with the requisite work skills but ultimately improve their performance on the job.

Over the years, Lily Hospitals’ management has shown an unwavering commitment towards training and development activities. 2022 was no different. Driven by our vision to become the leading healthcare provider in West Africa by 2030 through the delivery of exceptional care, training, and research, four clear objectives were laid out for the business in 2022.

At the base of these strategic goals was the need to improve the quality of our staff. Management clearly understood that better financial performance, improved customer experience, and efficient internal processes could be effectively achieved if our people were exposed to contemporary workplace skills and worked in an atmosphere that was engaging and promoted learning. Several initiatives were drawn to help achieve this goal. These involved identifying skill and knowledge gaps amongst various staff cadres as well as sourcing for appropriate contents and resources to help bridge these perceived and identified gaps.

Among the initiatives that were identified was the need to introduce non-financial managers to basic financial concepts. Through the Lily Leadership Academy and in collaboration with the Industrial Training Fund, several managers underwent a three-day intensive workshop on Finance for Non-Finance Managers. The goal was to give managers a better understanding of their numbers and how their units or departments contribute to our bottom-line.

Several other learning and development activities were also penciled down and conducted to help achieve the,  strategic objectives for 2022. These included trainings on Customer Experience-the Key to Business Sustainability and the Importance of Performance Management. These trainings were also delivered by eminent resource persons through the Lily Leadership Academy. Some of these trainings were meant to build on the coaching and mentorship programs that were conducted in 2021.

During the course of the year, several healthcare professionals from other healthcare facilities also benefitted immensely from training activities conducted by the Lily Leadership Academy.  Notable among them were staff members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Hospital, Nkpor. Three (3) batches of clinical and non-clinical professionals underwent three weeks of classroom activities and on-the-job training experience at our Warri facility between August and November.

This training collaboration with external healthcare providers was a fulfillment of Lily Hospitals leadership’s dream and commitment to impacting the healthcare space across Nigeria wherein practitioners are better positioned and equipped to meet the ever-changing needs of patients.

Looking forward, management is not relenting in its efforts to use learning and development as a veritable tool to transform the Nigeria healthcare sector. Several training collaborations with other healthcare institutions as well as the establishment of a College of Nursing are already in the works. These efforts will go a long way in providing patients with better quality of care and also help in raising healthcare leaders and professionals who would transform the narrative of healthcare delivery in Nigeria and indeed Africa.

 

A Tough Financial Year – CFO