Govt rolls out system to improve delivery of health services
Patients and their attendants camped outside the endocrinology unit at Mulago Hospital in the past. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- During the commissioning of the system at Sheraton Kampala Hotel last Friday, the dean of the School of Public Health at Makerere University, Prof Rhoda Wanyenze, said the innovation will empower the ministry to monitor CQI investments across the healthcare system and provide technical support.
The Ministry of Health has rolled out the health integrated continuous quality improvement (CQI) database system aimed at increasing efficiency in service delivery.
Health integrated CQI is an approach developed to improve productivity of health services, according to the ministry.
The system was designed by Makerere University School of Public Health’s Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Support (METS) programme and partners.
During the commissioning of the system at Sheraton Kampala Hotel last Friday, the dean of the School of Public Health at Makerere University, Prof Rhoda Wanyenze, said the innovation will empower the ministry to monitor CQI investments across the healthcare system and provide technical support.
Prof Wanyenze said quality improvement (QI) is a framework used to systematically improve healthcare delivery.
“The QI database will liberalise access to information to facilitate evidence-based decision making by key stakeholders at all levels of the healthcare system. METS will continue to support the Ministry of Health to leverage cutting age technologies to enhance the quality of health service delivery,” Prof Wanyenze said.
She added that quarterly and annual reports will be generated from the system to guide CQI implementation and identify mentorship and support supervision priorities.
The acting commissioner for Standards Compliance Accreditation and Patient Protection at the ministry, Dr Martin Ssendyana, said: “The system will help us to know what is being generated, at what level, and how we can use it, and identify the gaps we need to do capacity building.”
The senior QI advisor under the quality of assurance department in the Ministry of Health, Dr Benon Tumwesigye, said the ministry considers CQI as a foundation of all health care services interventions in the country.
Dr Tumwesigye said the ministry had no systematic monitoring for QI performance at national level.
“We have been using paper based reporting from front line health workers to report quality improvement through the systems to the facilities, districts, regions, and partners,’’ Dr Tumwesigye said.
ABOUT QI
According to the Ministry of Health, quality improvement (QI) is the process and sub-processes of reducing poor operational practices or variation from quality standards to achieve better health outcomes for clients.
QI of service systems and processes can be achieved through the routine use of health and programme data to evaluate challenges and identify practicable solutions that meet client and programme needs.
