Succession Planning in Healthcare: A Study of Hail Health Cluster, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Healthcare organizations must ensure that succession planning is in place to ensure that people are prepared to take on leadership roles as soon as a vacancy occurs in the organization. In Saudi Arabia's healthcare system, one of the main issues that needs to be addressed is the absence of succession planning for healthcare leadership. Objective: To explore healthcare leaders' perspectives on succession planning in Hail Health Cluster, examine how succession planning practices are effective, and determine the level of satisfaction of healthcare leaders gained with succession planning Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using a translated Arabic version of research tool (Garman AN, Tyler JL, 2004) in which succession plans was assessed. A total of 30 responses were collected from healthcare leaders. Results: The results found that the only 25% of the respondents reported that a specific successor been identified for their position. The most frequently cited barrier for not identifying the successor was that it was not a high enough priority (33.34%). In most cases (85.71%), successors were not formally prepared before taking over. More than fifty percent (53.57%) of respondents indicated the transition will take place in 6 months to 1 year and 21.43% reported that the process will take 1 to 2 years. Organization is effective in identifying appropriate successors (p=0.873) and organization is effective in preparing candidates for the role (p=0.118) were not significant. Length of the transition process has an effect on succession planning practices (p<0.001) and developmental activities employed has an effect on effectiveness in preparing successors (p<0.001). Majority of the respondents were not satisfied (89.29%) with succession planning. Conclusions: Based on the study, it was concluded that the Hail Health Cluster was not effective in identifying the successor. Hence, Hail Health Cluster needs to prioritize succession planning and make sure that the right successor is identified in advance to avoid any adverse consequences. In addition, the study recommends the Hail Health Cluster develop a succession planning manual containing rules and regulations for healthcare leaders. Keywords: Hail health cluster, Healthcare leaders, Succession planning 58