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Qatar's New Age of Quality Improvement
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The population of Qatar set to grow by more than 10% year on year. New hospitals, specialist care facilities, research centers and community health centers are under planning or construction countrywide and the recruitment of a highly trained and qualified workforce continues in anticipation of the growth in demand on healthcare services.
This projected increase creates a myriad of challenges for the Supreme Council of Health, custodian of the National Health Strategy 2011 – 2016. Sitting high on the list of priorities is Patient Safety and not only maintaining service quality during this period of growth, but improving upon it.
The NHS is built of seven goals under which a series of projects are working to deliver a world-class health system and it is ‘Project 2.1 – Quality Improvement and Patient Safety’ that is currently advancing a comprehensive model for care which will unify working practices, and reflect and measure quality improvement across the sector.
Dr Jamal Rashid Al-Khanji, Director of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Department (SCH) explains how the Supreme Council of Health is supported by it’s key partners Hamad Medical Corporation and the Primary Healthcare Corporation in realizing the vision.
This projected increase creates a myriad of challenges for the Supreme Council of Health, custodian of the National Health Strategy 2011 – 2016. Sitting high on the list of priorities is Patient Safety and not only maintaining service quality during this period of growth, but improving upon it.
The NHS is built of seven goals under which a series of projects are working to deliver a world-class health system and it is ‘Project 2.1 – Quality Improvement and Patient Safety’ that is currently advancing a comprehensive model for care which will unify working practices, and reflect and measure quality improvement across the sector.
Dr Jamal Rashid Al-Khanji, Director of Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Department (SCH) explains how the Supreme Council of Health is supported by it’s key partners Hamad Medical Corporation and the Primary Healthcare Corporation in realizing the vision.
“The Supreme Council of Health is a policy-maker, part of what we do is policy and part is regulation. Our role is to create safer systems and bring cohesion to the health sector through strong policy and in doing so, complement our colleagues in HMC and PHCC, along with all of the public and private providers in their roles of delivering the care to public. And yet, HMC and PHCC have done a lot of work in regards to developing industry standards so if we (SCH) believe that an initiative that has been developed by HMC, for example, that is suitable to be generalized on the whole of the nation then we will support industry-wide implementation. By doing this, we promote strategic and operational consistency and encourage group effort towards the same goal of raising Patient Safety and improving the quality of the healthcare system”.
Speaking on successful policy, Dr. Jamal continues: “A key policy has been the introduction of National Health Insurance, which allows us to amalgamate the industry by incentivizing licensed and accredited providers with a subsidized national insurance scheme”.
In 2013, the SCH identified the need for all residents of Qatar – nationals, expats and workers alike – to have access to quality, affordable healthcare, by introducing the National Health Insurance Scheme. The population of the State of Qatar will now have the choice of either private or public healthcare but importantly, the NHIS acts as a conduit to bring all healthcare providers under one national accreditation program.
In the past, healthcare providers have managed their own quality standards autonomously, but to become an insurance provider, facilities must gain licensing from the SCH or alternately have the option of gaining accreditation from an international organization to be considered for the scheme.
Under this policy, the SCH is able to introduce national clinical guidelines, standardize industry-wide best practice and quality improvement initiatives, while continually measuring the quality of service delivered in each facility. Larger providers, and key partners in the NHS, such as Hamad Medical Corporation and Primary Health Care Corporation can gain accreditation from established international accreditation systems.
In the past, healthcare providers have managed their own quality standards autonomously, but to become an insurance provider, facilities must gain licensing from the SCH or alternately have the option of gaining accreditation from an international organization to be considered for the scheme.
Under this policy, the SCH is able to introduce national clinical guidelines, standardize industry-wide best practice and quality improvement initiatives, while continually measuring the quality of service delivered in each facility. Larger providers, and key partners in the NHS, such as Hamad Medical Corporation and Primary Health Care Corporation can gain accreditation from established international accreditation systems.
“Primary Health Care Corporation places high emphasis on continuous improvement and raising the standards for care and services, which is why accreditation is so important”, says Dr. Mariam Abdulmalik, Managing Director of PHCC.
“Accreditation is a rigorous, transparent, and comprehensive process of examining systems, processes, and the organization’s performance by an independent external accrediting body; a streamlined, rigorous global program of assessing the efforts and initiatives aimed at improving the quality and safety of all our services”.
The aim of 100% of public and 80% of private providers licensed or accredited by the end of 2016 is well advanced and promises consistency across the sector, the benefits of which will filter directly to patient experience.
As part of policy development the SCH is also implementing Health Service Provider Agreements (HSPAs) with all public and private facilities.
An HSPA requires each facility to provide minimum data sets (which were developed in collaboration with providers), to the SCH at regular intervals. The data reports on a series of measures that dictate areas such as efficiency, for example, admission and discharge times or availability of ‘third next appointment’. ‘Sentinel events’ informs on negative events such as wrong-site surgery, needle stick injuries or patient falls, giving the SCH real insight into the internal workings of facilities for the first time.
With this data the SCH can review the quality of care and safety within a facility, measure efficiency and affect consistency in key areas such as ‘referral and discharge’, and ‘continuity of care’. Where there are a defining number of red flags, a regulator can request discussion, call for remedial action within the facility or regulatory action from SCH, if required. The data will also inform patient choice and feed research initiatives.
The next key aspect in Patient Safety lies in the very hands of those responsible for delivering it. Qatar’s body of practitioners are a highly diverse group from all parts of the world, given the task of delivering the right care, to the right patient, at the right time, often under pressure in a complex hospital environment. Assimilating new arrivals and bringing all practitioners into one unified practice requires not only a high level of policy defining safer systems but also, stringent screening and regulation of the workforce.
The Qatar Council of Healthcare Practitioners, which currently sits under the SCH but which will soon become an autonomous body, is tasked with managing the national register of professionals entering into the workforce in the country. They will work to eradicate counterfeit qualifications, both in future recruitments and in the existing catalogue of professionals already in the country, ensuring that Qatar’s’ residents are cared for by world-class professionals.
Outside of the actual facilities, industry-wide events such as ‘Qatar Patient Safety Week’, which has just held its inaugural event in January 2014, are working to bring all of the key stakeholders into discussion to propagate ideas and discuss problems, feeding developments back into all areas of the health care system. With national and international experts in attendance to share knowledge and build on robust practice, Qatar Patient Safety Week promotes collaboration across the sector, again promoting the key concept of consistency in the processes followed by a diverse, international workforce.
As the broad work continues, with both key stakeholders, and public and private providers working in tandem to raise the quality of healthcare in Qatar, it is clear that the patient is at the heart of the journey, informing the quest for Patient Safety and Quality Improvement.
As part of policy development the SCH is also implementing Health Service Provider Agreements (HSPAs) with all public and private facilities.
An HSPA requires each facility to provide minimum data sets (which were developed in collaboration with providers), to the SCH at regular intervals. The data reports on a series of measures that dictate areas such as efficiency, for example, admission and discharge times or availability of ‘third next appointment’. ‘Sentinel events’ informs on negative events such as wrong-site surgery, needle stick injuries or patient falls, giving the SCH real insight into the internal workings of facilities for the first time.
With this data the SCH can review the quality of care and safety within a facility, measure efficiency and affect consistency in key areas such as ‘referral and discharge’, and ‘continuity of care’. Where there are a defining number of red flags, a regulator can request discussion, call for remedial action within the facility or regulatory action from SCH, if required. The data will also inform patient choice and feed research initiatives.
The next key aspect in Patient Safety lies in the very hands of those responsible for delivering it. Qatar’s body of practitioners are a highly diverse group from all parts of the world, given the task of delivering the right care, to the right patient, at the right time, often under pressure in a complex hospital environment. Assimilating new arrivals and bringing all practitioners into one unified practice requires not only a high level of policy defining safer systems but also, stringent screening and regulation of the workforce.
The Qatar Council of Healthcare Practitioners, which currently sits under the SCH but which will soon become an autonomous body, is tasked with managing the national register of professionals entering into the workforce in the country. They will work to eradicate counterfeit qualifications, both in future recruitments and in the existing catalogue of professionals already in the country, ensuring that Qatar’s’ residents are cared for by world-class professionals.
Outside of the actual facilities, industry-wide events such as ‘Qatar Patient Safety Week’, which has just held its inaugural event in January 2014, are working to bring all of the key stakeholders into discussion to propagate ideas and discuss problems, feeding developments back into all areas of the health care system. With national and international experts in attendance to share knowledge and build on robust practice, Qatar Patient Safety Week promotes collaboration across the sector, again promoting the key concept of consistency in the processes followed by a diverse, international workforce.
As the broad work continues, with both key stakeholders, and public and private providers working in tandem to raise the quality of healthcare in Qatar, it is clear that the patient is at the heart of the journey, informing the quest for Patient Safety and Quality Improvement.