23 Sep 2014

Accreditation is regarded as a cornerstone to bring about change in the safety and quality programmes of many healthcare systems and maintenance of patient safety, the Minister of Health Dr John Seakgosing has said.

Giving a keynote address during the accreditation of some services in Kweneng District, Dr Seakgosing congratulated Scottish Livingstone dignitaries and the whole working community of its significant accomplishment on being accredited because when enrolled into the program it helped the hospital to offer quality health care services to the community.

The minister enlisted some benefits of accreditation programme being, effective teamwork, reduced costs, and community involvement. He announced that Scottish Livingstone Hospital, Phuthadikobo and Nkoyaphiri clinics have gone through an external assessment and they have since achieved an entry level of pre-accreditation graded recognition. 

He further said accreditation is based on the practice of nationally and internationally agreed standards for assessing performance of health facilities. 

The clinics are said to be offering 11 services each but they have only four services accredited. 

“My ministry has set itself an objective to have accredited 18 health facilities by 2016” said the Minister, adding that, 16 out of the 18 health facilities have already been involved, but are at different stages.

However, the minister explained that it was not a smooth journey since they did not know exactly what was required of them and that they had many turning points. 

He said they also had to develop policies and standard operating procedures, and even provide continuous monitoring of their implementation and outcomes. 

“The personnel did not just sit back, they took the project as a priority because they wanted recognition of their facility and services internationally,” said the minister. 

He urged the workers to continue being innovative and being among performance trendsetters.

 He thanked his Permanent Secretary Dr Kolaatamo for toiling together with him in improving health services.

He cautioned that healthcare is dynamic and needs innovation, new technologies and modernized methods .

The minister encouraged the Scottish staff to continue with their journey with a little more effort and perseverance in order to successfully achieve compliance and full accreditation. 

He said he has confidence that during the next external assessments, the hospital and its two clinics will be fully accredited.

The health inspectorate official from the Ministry of Health Ms Baile Moagi said the accreditation programe started in March 2009 as a pilot project, Scottish Livingstone being one of the four hospitals in the country.

She said at the start of the program Scottish stood at 33 percent of compliance and it is currently at 79 percent. Ms Moagi further mentioned that Scottish offers 33 services and 17 are now fully accredited and the remaining services are on partial compliance.

Ms Baile Moagi said by January 2015 the ministry will come to do the last assessment on services yet to be accredited for full accreditation. She advised the dignitaries to keep encouraging the staff to work hard towards full accreditation. 

It was explained that Scottish Livingstone Hospital has received a graded recognition, pre-accreditation entry level while Phuthadikobo and Nkoyaphiri received progress level into accreditation under the Council for Health Services Accreditation of Southern Africa`s quality improvement program shortly referred to as COHSASA. ENDS