Quality health services

Quality health services

What is quality?

Quality of care is the extent to which health services provided to individuals and populations increase the likelihood of expected health outcomes and are consistent with evidence-based expertise. This definition of quality of care covers promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care, and implies that quality of care, families and communities can be measured and continuously improved by providing evidence-based care that takes into account the needs and preferences of service users (patients).

• Effective by providing evidence-based health care to those who need it;
• Ensuring safety by avoiding harm to the object of care;
• People-centered care that meets individual preferences, needs and values in health services organized around people's needs;
• Timely by reducing waiting times and sometimes harmful delays for those receiving and providing care;
• Equitable, equal quality of care provided regardless of age, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, geographic location, religion, socioeconomic status, language, or political affiliation;
• Integration by providing care coordinated across levels and providers and providing the full range of health services throughout the life course; and
• Improve efficiency by maximizing the use of available resources and avoiding waste.

Many of these quality areas are closely related to ethical principles.

Take action for quality
Quality health services are a product of the broader health system environment and the behavior of providers and individuals working within it. Who, OECD and the World Bank have identified a series of actions that key constituencies - governments, health systems, citizens and patients, and health workers - need to work together to achieve the goal of delivering quality health services on the front line.
National quality strategic direction: National policies and strategies aimed at improving the quality of care provide a solid foundation for improving the quality of the health system as a whole and need to be closely integrated with broader national health policies and programmes. At the heart of the National quality policy and strategy is a set of pragmatic interventions that reflect the actions needed across the health system to shape the system environment, reduce harm, improve clinical care and engage patients, families and communities. Illustrative lists of quality interventions in these areas can be considered by countries.

Quality of the health system: in addition to an enabling policy environment, the provision of quality services requires good governance; A skilled and competent health workforce supported and motivated; Financing mechanisms to support and encourage quality care; Information systems that continuously monitor and learn to drive better care; Medicines, equipment and technologies that are available, safe and properly regulated; And accessible and well-equipped health care facilities.

High quality primary health care: Primary health care is central to providing quality universal health coverage. The three interconnected pillars of primary health care - empowering people and engaging communities; Multisectoral health initiatives; Prioritize health services that provide high-quality primary care and essential public health functions - all of which require careful consideration of quality.

Monitoring and evaluation: Quality needs to be continuously measured and monitored to drive improvement. This relies on accurate, timely and actionable data. The integration of global and national measurement efforts is critical to ensure that countries collect vital data and use it to transform and improve their service delivery systems. For example, the role of adverse event reporting and learning systems is critical in this context.

Sharing and learning: In addition to key indicators for measuring improvement, there is a clear need to collect and share lessons learned on quality within and between countries to promote mutually reinforcing and positive learning processes. This knowledge from all levels of national health systems must be shared within global and local health systems.

Quality resilient health systems: Quality and resilience are closely related concepts. To make health systems resilient, they need quality health services delivered before, sustained during and improved after public health emergencies. Quality health services are critical in emergencies and serve as an interface between communities and the health system.

Finally, worldwide, there needs to be a fundamental shift in service delivery so that quality services are delivered with compassion, focused on the needs of people and communities, as compassionate delivery has been shown to improve outcomes in a wide range of contexts.