Health Minister Adam Niedzielski met with the Council of Patient Organisations under the Patient Ombudsman. "The public consultation of the Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety Act is an extremely important stage in the introduction of new solutions. The voice of patient organisations is increasingly being heard, helping to build the healthcare system and will certainly improve safety," noted Patient Ombudsman Bartłomiej Chmielowiec.
Currently, quality issues in healthcare are regulated in a number of legal acts of varying rank. At the same time, there are a number of pro-quality initiatives initiated by the Minister of Health, the National Health Fund, patient organisations and the medical community. However, the quality requirements introduced so far are not associated with sufficient and systematic assessment of their fulfilment.
"I was very keen to meet with patient representatives. We need to consider together which mechanisms - in your opinion - need to be improved and redefined. We all care about improving the situation of patients, but also about ensuring that the money invested in health care is spent efficiently. We need metrics and the ability to monitor this spending," added Health Minister Adam Niedzielski.
Those taking part in the discussion raised, among other issues, the financing of services, the building of registers of adverse events, accreditation, accessibility to services and diagnostic tests, and the need to introduce a coordinator into the system to oversee the entire therapeutic process for patients. The proposed Compensation Fund and procedures related to claiming compensation for adverse vaccination reactions were also extensively discussed.
"The Quality and Patient Safety Act is a revolution in the Polish healthcare system. I am convinced that its introduction will save many lives and counteract thousands of adverse events. The system will detect, monitor and analyse them in order to draw conclusions and make changes so that we can minimise the risk of their occurrence," the Patient Ombudsman explained.
The introduction of a statutory regulation will define the tasks, responsibilities and powers of the different actors in monitoring, evaluating and improving quality. The new regulations will ensure that patients, medical staff and healthcare providers have access to widespread, reliable, objective and comparable information on the quality of care provided.
The representatives of the organisations also stressed that quality and safety should also be considered in the context of the entire therapeutic process, and not just in the space of medical facilities. "Let us remember that the effectiveness of treatment is not only about visits to doctors or stays in hospital. It is also about taking proper care of the patient outside the medical facility, so access to modern therapies, access to medicines that the patient will be able to afford," - emphasised.
Optimisation of medical processes requires a systemic approach to the issue of quality in healthcare. Appropriately organised quality management in health care, operating both at the level of individual health care units and at the system level, stimulates improvements in the functioning of the health care system and, consequently, influences an increase in the level of health security and public satisfaction with health care.
Source: www.gov.pl/web/rpp