The health service performance agreement (HSPA) launched by the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) last week is expected to set up higher standards in the healthcare sector.
The HSPA has endorsed a number of indicators for a common framework to collect data from the healthcare providers approved by hospitals and primary health centres.
A total of 25 indicators were approved by hospitals while 15 were endorsed by primary healthcare centres which come under six dimensions - processes, appropriateness and outcomes, safety of patients and staff, heath workforce, access and responsiveness, satisfaction or experience of the patients and staff and financial performance and efficiency.
The indicators aim to collect all the necessary data from various stakeholders so that the efficiency of the healthcare system can be improved in the country. It gives room for recording crucial facts such as in-hospital death rate, medication errors, compliance of hand hygiene, waiting time, patients’ as well as staff satisfaction and turnover of the workforce among others.
The SCH has made it mandatory for all the healthcare providers to participate in the HSPA. The SCH will analyse the data and present the indicators in a balanced scorecard to assess the performance against anonymous peers as well as regional and international benchmarks. It will also work with the providers to discuss healthcare quality and data issues and propose strategies to address them.
The HSPA project was initiated in December 2012 by the National Steering Committee. The committee was composed of key stakeholders from the SCH and healthcare providers and was responsible for overseeing the development HSPA in Qatar.
Key clauses within HSPA were developed based on review of local documents and international evidence and input from the steering committee. Key performance indicators were reviewed from national and international sources. The steering committee selected the indicators based on their feasibility and importance to healthcare providers in Qatar.

Citizens call for more hospitals under NHIS

In the run-up to the launch of the second stage of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), citizens have raised questions over the preparedness of the hospitals selected as service providers, local Arabic daily Arrayah has reported.
In the second stage, which is to be launched next month, all Qatari nationals will receive services in the selected hospitals.
The citizens have argued that the number of private hospitals engaged in the health insurance system is limited and these may not be able to cope with the expected increase in the number of people seeking treatment under the NHIS, the report states.
A large number of government organisations and private establishments are believed to have entered into agreements to get their employees treated at private hospitals. There are fears that this will lead to an increase in the rush of patients, which will adversely affect the quality of medical services provided, the report states.
The citizens have said that this problem needs solutions such as the development of all private hospitals involved in the NHIS through the establishment of more specialised clinics, modernisation of medical equipment and employment of qualified staff in different specialisations, according to the report.
They have called for an increase in the number of private hospitals under the health insurance network as well as the inclusion of private health facilities preferred by citizens due to the quality of service provided or their convenient location, the report adds.