The Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has announced its greatest international accreditation success to date with 13 of its facilities and services accredited by US-based Joint Commission International (JCI).
This includes accreditation for the first time for three new hospitals as well as the Hamad Dental Centre and Mental Health Service. Eight hospitals which already hold JCI accreditation, were also successfully re-accredited.
This represents the greatest number of JCI accredited facilities in Qatar and the culmination of HMC’s largest-ever hospital accreditation programme. HMC also remains the only hospital system outside the US to achieve corporate Academic Medical Centre accreditation for all its hospitals simultaneously.
JCI Accreditation is seen as the gold standard for the accreditation of hospitals worldwide and the latest edition of their quality and safety standards and measures which hospitals must meet to achieve accreditation are the most exacting to date. Hospitals must meet strict patient safety and performance improvement standards to achieve accreditation status and these are rigourously checked before accreditation is granted.
HE the Minister of Public Health and HMC managing director Dr Hanan Mohamed al-Kuwari was present when the accreditation announcement was made.
“The quality of healthcare in Qatar continues to improve year-on-year. Today’s accreditation success is another example of the quality of care in Qatar being recognised internationally and HMC - as the main provider of secondary and tertiary care in the country - is central to this,”said Dr al-Kuwari.
“This prestigious international accreditation is incredibly challenging to achieve and maintain. The commitment of each one of HMC’s staff and their focus on delivering the highest standard of care to our patients is a great testament to this achievement,” she added.
Dr Badriya al-Ali, deputy chief quality officer, HMC whose team was central to the management of JCI accreditation across HMC said, “The announcement by the JCI surveyors of HMC’s accreditation success demonstrates the consistently high standards of care being delivered across HMC. JCI certification recognises excellence in care delivered to defined patient populations and demonstrates that an organisation meets an extra, stringent set of compliance and safety standards.”
Ali al-Janahi, chief of business services at HMC said, “In the three years since the JCI last inspected HMC we have seen a significant number of new hospitals open and new services come on line and the number of patients we serve has grown substantially. This accreditation shows we have achieved all of that whilst improving the quality of care we provide – that is testimony to the hard work and dedication of all the staff at HMC.”
“Achieving Academic Medical Centre Accreditation simultaneously across all hospitals indicates that HMC is not only committed to providing excellent healthcare, but they are also committed to culture of continuous improvement by learning and developing better care. The systems that HMC has put in place have helped to support consistent improvements in patient care and have also helped to energise the staff about the implementation of future improvements,” Paula Wilson, president and CEO, JCI added.
