The Manager of Clinical Services at IHK (International Hospital Kampala), Jackie Nabukeera of Kampala visited COHSASA in March to hear first-hand from South African accredited facilities what it means to participate in quality improvement and accreditation.
New opportunities are opening up for COHSASA in Africa with a private hospital in Uganda the latest to sign on for quality improvement, accreditation and patient safety reporting and monitoring programmes.
The International Hospital Kampala (IHK), a private healthcare facility owned by the International Medical Group and the only hospital in Uganda to be ISO certified has opted to add to its list of credentials a COHSASA quality improvement and accreditation programme, including a patient safety component.
COHSASA manages a Patient Safety Information System which enables the collection, classification and analysis of adverse events and near-misses that occur in the delivery of healthcare services.
It is for these services that IHK, a 90-bed facility (with a maximum capacity of 120) founded in 1996 and situated in Namuwongo in South East Kampala has signed a contract. IHK is the largest private hospital in Uganda with more than 70,000 out-patient visits, 1,700 babies delivered and more than 2,500 theatre procedures a year.
As a first point of departure, the hospital’s Clinical Services Manager, Jackie Nabukeera, visited Cape Town to hear first-hand from staff at healthcare facilities that have already achieved COHSASA accreditation what the process entails.
Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in organisation studies, an MA in Sustainable Management from Umeå University in Sweden and wide-ranging hospital management experience, Jackie has created a career-path well-placed to evaluate what IHK has committed itself to in terms of time and resources.
“I WANTED TO GET SOME POINTERS FOR OUR OWN JOURNEY IN ACCREDITATION”
“Dr Ian Clarke, the owner of IHK, said he wanted me to run with the quality improvement and patient safety programme. Because I had little experience in quality I felt that I had to visit COHSASA for training at the coal-face and speak to those who have already been accredited so that I could find out what they think about the programme and establish what challenges they faced. I wanted to get some pointers for our own journey in accreditation.”
Feedback was encouraging and positive from COHSASA clients in Cape Town who said that although accreditation required effort, it was worthwhile. She said her visit had left her with the view that COHSASA is an extremely impressive organisation and that staff had been very supportive and open to questions.