10 Jul 2014

The provision of quality and safe healthcare services remains a major challenge faced by both the public and private health sector.

Speaking during the dissemination campaign of the Ministry of Health’s National Health Quality Standards in Kasane on July 8, the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary, Dr Khumo Seipone, said the outcomes did not necessarily match with the inputs that government had invested.

“The public is complaining about quality of services they receive,” she said. “They complain of issues such as attitudes of some of the healthcare workers, cleanliness and safety of our health facilities and long queues.”

Dr Seipone said the most critical point in health services was making sure that expectations and health needs of the patients and the community were met. She challenged the healthcare workers to do more with less as there was still room for improvement. 

She also urged the hospital advisory committees to be functional because they were the link between community leadership and hospitals.

She noted therefore that the standards would provide a set of minimum basic requirements for provision of quality and safe health care service.

Ms Baile Moagi, the director of Health Inspectorate, explained that the standards would apply to emergency medical services, hospitals, clinics, environmental health services, mortuary and autopsy services.

“These standards are statements that prescribe minimal, acceptable or excellent levels of performance that describe expected outcomes in health care delivery,” she said.

Ms Baile said the standards would define key functions, activities, processes and structures that were required to provide healthcare services.

Launched in January this year, the standards were expected to help patients and health service users to understand what to expect from well-run health services.

They were also to describe what quality and safe health service should look like in relation to patient safety, patient experience and clinical effectiveness. ENDS