Accra, July 24, GNA – The Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency, Dr Philip Bannor, has lauded the commitment of the Christian Health Association of Ghana for demonstrating great commitment towards improving quality healthcare in Ghana.
Dr Bannor gave the commendation at the maiden SafeCare Quality Improvement Awards held in Accra.
The event was organized by PharmAccess Ghana, and SafeCare, in collaboration with HeFRA.
He said the quality improvement partnership with SafeCare had helped the health regulatory agency to work towards minimising errors in care and promoting quality health care.
He said with improvement in quality care, cases such as hospital-acquired infections, misdiagnoses, and frequent readmission rates had reduced significantly.
Dr Bannor said the partnership with SafeCare gave HeFRA an international partner that provided another layer of international standardized recognition for all the facilities that were accredited by HeFRA.
The Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) had made remarkable strides so far towards improving quality care by signing onto the SafeCare quality improvement programme, he said.
During an interaction with Journalists after the awards ceremony, Dr Peter Yeboah, the Executive Director of CHAG, emphasized the need for quality standards in the health delivery system.
He said the SafeCare programme had enabled the CHAG to measure, rate, and ranked over 330 facilities under CHAG.
Dr Yeboah said 91 per cent of all CHAG facilities assessed by SafeCare had recorded performance improvement since 2020 and during the baseline assessment in 2020, only four facilities out of the 330 had reached Level 4 of the SafeCare quality rating.
However, following the rigorous assessment and QI facilitation performed and supported by the internationally certified SafeCare assessors, 38 of the CHAG facilities had currently attained SafeCare Level 4.
“This means that for everyone who reports to any of these 38 CHAG facilities, the level of care received will be as good as any person receiving care in any SafeCare level 4 certified facility in any part of the world,” Dr. Yeboah explained.
He added that 99 CHAG facilities initially rated at Level 1 had progressed to Levels 2 or 3 in the past three years of embarking on the quality improvement programme.
Dr. Yeboah said SafeCare was transforming the entire health system in Ghana because it aligned perfectly with the country’s roadmap toward achieving universal healthcare tenets.
The CHAG Executive Director believed that it’s an opportune time for Ghana to build a responsive resilient sector for quality healthcare delivery as it continued to restore health facilities from the impact of the devastation COVID-19 pandemic brought.
Dr. Yeboah added that by using the SafeCare Standards, the country could push towards attaining Global standards of healthcare.
Dr Yeboah expressed the CHAG’s commitment to investing and sustaining the SafeCare quality improvement journey as it transitioned from a fully funded PharmAccess support to a self-sustaining programme by the Christian Health Association of Ghana.
In all, eight healthcare facilities and organizations were awarded along with seven individuals who had dedicated to promoting and facilitating quality improvement in various healthcare facilities network in Ghana.
Dr James Duah, the Deputy Executive Director for CHAG, was honoured as the SafeCare Personality of the Year 2021-2023.
Emmanuel Addo received the Most Dedicated Assessor in CHAG 2021-2023 award.
The SafeCare Innovation for QI Award 2021-2023 and the Highest QPP Promoter 2021-2023 awards went to Edwin Mensah Agbeko, while Best Performing Assessor in CHAG 2021-2023 was won by Dr. Anita Appiah, with the SafeCare Loyalty Award 2021-2023 going to Mary Konneh-Archer.
The Outstanding Assessor in all the SafeCare network 2021-2023 prize was picked by Valentina Naa Deisa Thompson.
At the facilities category, the Most Improved Clinics and Health Centres @ SafeCare Level 3 recognition was given to E.P. Church Clinic, Wapuli, while the Reverend Walker Medical Mission Hospital won the Most Improved Primary Hospital @ SafeCare Level 4 for 2021-2023.
The Most Improved Large Primary Hospital / Secondary Hospital @ SafeCare Level 4 awards for the years under review went to St. Elizabeth Hospital, Hwidiem.
Also, the Global Evangelic Mission Hospital, Apromoase, won the Most Frequent QPP User (2021-2023) award, with Most Consistent QPP User (2021-2023) award won by St Theresa’s Hospital, Nandom.
The Sanford World Clinic, Ghana also received the award for the most improved private health network and the Ghana Adventist Health Services won the SafeCare QI institutionalization Award (2021-2023) and, the CHAG Shining Example Award for the period going to E.P. Church Clinic, Dzemeni.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Dr Maxwell Akwasi Antwi, the country Director for PharmAccess Ghana, said every year, over 100 million patients received care in health facilities certified by SafeCare globally.
Highlighting the dangers of low quality of care, Dr. Maxwell Antwi presented some worrying data about quality healthcare especially in low to middle-income countries, adding “Almost 5.7 to 8.4 million people die annually because of poor quality care in low to middle-income countries like Ghana.
The poor quality of care killed more people in one year, than the Covid-19 pandemic did in three years, he explained, noting, “Covid killed about seven million people in three years, but the poor quality of care kills about the same number of people every year.
“Every one of us has had the experience of somebody who would have lived but for poor quality of care,” he pointed out.
These emphasise why the HeFRA-recognised and ISQua-accredited SafeCare Standards needed to be adopted in the healthcare system for improvement in quality care, he said.
Hence, it explains why the Internationally Certified Assessors SafeCare deserved to be celebrated and honoured because they are working hard to improve the quality of healthcare for patients.
SafeCare helps healthcare stakeholders in emerging markets to bridge the quality gaps today for safer care tomorrow.
GNA