Assessing the Performance of Social Emergency Referral System (SERS) in Tabriz

The aim of this study was to assess the performance of Social Emergency Referral System (SERS) in Tabriz.

This was a mix-method study (quantitative and qualitative). The opinions of the experts regarding SERS were summarized by interview and semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed by content analysis method. Performance indicators and service provision were extracted based on recorded data in the health center of Shahid Chamran and the health center of East Azerbaijan province and presented in descriptive statistics.

According to the findings of the study, among vulnerable people, 84% were related to addiction and 16% were other problems. Of the 11 detected social harms, after drug addiction, the highest rates refer to divorce, spouse abuse and students who dropeed out of schools and was the largest share of referrals to the welfare organization. The most important strengths of the SERS were identifying vulnerable people and guding them to receive support services and activation of NGOs and the most important weaknesses were the weak cooperation of organizations. Also, for SERS progress, the potential of close cooperation of welfare organization, the Red Crescent and the Relief Committee and the lack of cooperation between provincial government and the municipality should be considered.

According to the study findings, in order to improve the performance and expansion of the SERS in Tabriz, one of the most important issues that should be considered, is to improve the participation and cooperation of all stakeholders and related organizations in order to increase public trust in the program and improving its performance.