20 Dec 2016

Scottish Livingstone Hospital and Phuthadikobo clinic have been given recognition for providing sustainable quality health services after seven years of trying.

The accreditation came as a result of dedication and hard work.

Speaking at the accreditation recognition ceremony in Molepolole on Friday (December 16), Minister of Health and Wellness, Ms Dorcas Makgato, said the ceremony was held to recognise, appreciate and celebrate with the Kweneng East District Health Management Team (DHMT) for being one of the first health facilities to achieve accreditation regarding the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) healthcare standards.

To achieve accreditation, the minister clarified that facilities must have scored on average 85, with each service area score of at least 80 out of a possible score of 100 and all critical criteria being compliant.

Therefore, she explained that for Scottish Livingstone hospital had scored 39 as an average score at baseline in March 2009 while Phuthadikobo clinic scored 42.

However, Minister Makgato said that she was happy to announce that Scottish Livingstone hospital and Phuthadikobo clinic overall performance score stood at 96 and 97 respectively adding that these scores earned them accreditation.

For that reason, Ms Makgato had also explained that achieving full accreditation status reflects high individual and organisational performance.

Also, she said the accredited facilities should always comply with international standards on critical issues such as resuscitation, infection prevention and control, fire safety, risk management and maintenance.

Furthermore, she highlighted that achieving accreditation meant among others commitment to the provision of high quality and safe healthcare services, commitment to drive continuous improvement in all aspects of patient care and services and patient safety in reference to global best practices.

The minister had consequently congratulated the Kweneng East DHMT, its management and staff for their hard work and commitment in ensuring that they get accredited.

However, she had emphasized that the ceremony marked the end of an era and ushering in of a whole new one for which all should continually find innovative ways, technologies and better modernised methods of providing care that is responsive to the health needs of the community in accordance with best practices.

Nonetheless, Ms Makgato cautioned staff that having achieved accreditation, the hospital and clinic would be put under pressure and need to intensify or double up their efforts to sustain the status.

She also pointed out that their efficiency and clinical outcomes will from now on be under enormous scrutiny by the general public but with outstanding performance, they will attract more clients and become the health facility of choice.

Detailing the accreditation journey, Head of Kweneng East DHMT, Dr Kitenge Kalenga said after government had decided to accredit all big government facilities in the country, the first study, identified some holes in the system and some of them among others were risk management, maintenance of services, prevention and control of infection as well as corporate resources management.

Dr Kalenga also mentioned that they immediately determined their priorities and worked hard to address the challenges even though the whole exercise proved very costly.

They also realised that some job descriptions were not available while fleet management was almost inexistent not to mention scanty infection control policies.

However, he said they worked so hard to fill up those gaps hence they finally got accreditation this year to last for a period of two years.

Also during the ceremony, service element drivers were decorated with accolades for their outstanding performance. ENDS