On Tuesday June 2nd, 2026, Anguilla’s Department of Health Services, in collaboration with the Anguilla Community College (ACC) launched the first session of Health Sector Training in Customer Service Excellence.
The Opening ceremony, which took place at the conference room of the Anguilla Football Association’s dormitory, was attended by some sixty health related personnel of the Department, who will, for the next three months, be engaged in a stringent customer training programme facilitated by the Anguilla Community College with the academic support of the School of Higher Education Limited of Trinidad.
Michael Dumper Martin played the National Song, and prayer was offered by Acting Commissioner of Health, Mr. Malcolm Webster, who prayed for God’s guidance and blessings on the participants and that they would exercise an open mind to every aspect of the training. He prayed that the facilitators would speak words that would resonate within the minds of the participants and that there would be noticeable improvements in their service as health professionals, for optimal healthcare and service delivery.
Welcome remarks were delivered by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Karim Hodge. He commended the ambition of the Ministry, as well as the collaboration of the Anguilla Community College, saying that the Ministry recognizes that staff development is essential. But he had a special message for the beneficiaries of the training, in particular.
“Upon beginning this journey today,” he told the participants, “I encourage you to approach this training with openness and purpose. Your participation is not only an investment in your own professional growth, but an investment in the people whom you serve.” The aim of the training is to build a stronger, more people-centered healthcare system.
Senior Advisor in the Ministry of Health, Evans McNeil Rogers, shared passionate comments. “There is no doubt that my comrades in healthcare know very well the truism that ‘the focal point of their profession is the patient’. This programme is patient-centered,” he said.
“This Soft Skills Training Programme for healthcare professionals is absolutely necessary if we are to improve the quality of healthcare services delivered in Anguilla, which is a very small, unique community.”
He referred to an outstanding principal that he himself learnt during his formative years of training: the notion that ‘healthcare is 80% psychological and 20% medical’. “That initial contact with the patient and their family members is critical as to how the outcome of the care will be,” he stressed.
Mr. Rogers also spoke in passionate tones regarding not only the importance of specialized service training, but the need for participants to take a practical approach in exercising every facet of the training provided through the programme after their training has been acquired. He emphasized the healthcare provider’s need for operating at a professional standard of excellence while dealing with the patient, the patient’s relatives, and those associates who are in one way or another linked to the patient.
He highlighted the fact that the Ministry of Health takes these sessions of training seriously, and stressed that those participants who would hereafter fall short of the principles of their training would or could be held accountable.
The Dean and Acting President of the Anguilla Community College, Dr. Michelle Queeley, presented an overview of the programme for Training in Customer Service Excellence, but in doing so she also placed on record Mr. Rogers’ passion and vision for the programme:
“I recall in July of 2025 Mr. Rogers visited my office at the ACC to discuss a vision that he had for strengthening customer service across the health sector in Anguilla. It was his view that in order accomplish this standard, it would be necessary for the Department of Health Services to be engaged in a strategic partnership with the ACC.
“From that very first conversation, it was evident that it was not just another idea, but it was a cause about which Mr. Rogers was very passionate, and one which he had determined to see become a reality, ” Dr. Queeley declared.
In presenting her overview of the Training in Customer Service Excellence, Dr. Queeley explained that partners in the programme included the Ministry of Health, the Anguilla Community College and the School of Higher Education Limited of Trinidad and Tobago.
“This training programme has been carefully designed as a strategic response to public feedback that has consistently highlighted concerns related to poor communication; a lack of empathy; quality of responsiveness; confidentiality; accountability; and the overall quality of customer interaction across the health sector,” she said. Of particular note, she stressed that these deficiencies were presented to the ACC in accordance with patient-related feedback and data gleaned from the health sector itself.
“These challenges,” Dr. Queeley stated, “present an opportunity to strengthen service delivery, rebuild public confidence, and create a culture of excellence that reflects the values and aspirations of Anguillian residents.
“Over the next three months, 150 sector employees, representing every level of the healthcare system, including administration, managers, physicians, nurses and clinicians, orderlies, cooks, custodians security personnel, clinical staff and other support personnel will be participating in a structured programmed aimed at enhancing customer service for the entire healthcare sector.”
According to Dr. Queeley, the training sessions will run from June to August in the first instance and will be repeated with another cohort of trainees in January of 2027. The training will feature four facilitators, namely Canon Reid Simon, Mrs. Ronya Foy-Connor, Mr. Chris Richardson, and Mr. Keith MacDonald of the School of Higher Education Limited of Trinidad.
By James R. Harrigan
