The National Policy on Healthcare Quality and Safety for Sri Lanka formulated in 2015 aimed at achieving a higher quality of life for its citizens by identifying the roles and responsibilities of the Government and Private Institutions, in relation to better provision of curative and preventive care and implementing the strategies through specific programs island wide.
In August 2019, (DHQS) requested the WHO to support reviewing the policy on healthcare quality and safety and the development of a Strategic Plan for Patient Safety and Quality of Care for 2021-2024 to systematically implement the national policy. DHQS obtained external technical assistance through the WHO, stakeholder working groups were identified and the strategic plan was developed for the Key Results Areas of the national policy with stakeholder consensus. The national policy was revised to emphasize the importance of local leadership, ownership, data management and peer benchmarking. The successful implementation of the policy will bring patient safety and healthcare quality in Sri Lanka to the next level, achieving mature status for the patient safety and quality processes, in consistent with the global patient safety standards and supporting the 2019 World Health Assembly resolution on Global Action on Patient Safety and seven dimensions of healthcare quality.
The revised National Policy on Healthcare Quality and Safety and the strategic plan Quality and Safety (2021-2024) were launched at the World Patients Safety Day National event in 2022.
NATIONAL POLICY ON HEALTH CARE QUALITY AND SAFETY
Key Result Areas
1. Customer/ Patient Satisfaction and Experience - To strengthen organizational settings towards customer-focused care responsive to their preferences, expectations and values and patient-centered care
2. Leadership, Governance and Systems - To establish effective leadership and develop governance and systems to facilitate healthcare quality improvement and patient safety.
3. Clinical Effectiveness - To promote evidence-based, ethically accepted clinical practices to ensure the best possible outcome for the patient.
4. Risk Management and Safety - To mitigate risk from medications, procedures and adverse events to ensure safety of patients and staff.
5. Enabling a Culture for Quality Improvement - To internalize quality improvement strategies to assure shared values in creating health promoting and environment friendly healthcare organizations.
6. Staff Development and Wellbeing - To develop a competent, healthy and satisfied workforce to enhance productivity, quality and safety in healthcare.
7. Research for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety - To promote research in the field of quality improvement and patient safety.
