The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, recently held at the Training & Development Center in Sharjah two workshops on training in clinical governance strategy.The three-day event was held in coordination with the World Health Organization and in the presence of International experts.
The workshops come as part of MoHAP’s strategy to explore the healthcare future and reinvent health services to improve patient safety in accordance with the best international practices and to learn more about best practices in the clinical governance field, as well as to develop a roadmap and the executive and strategic plan.
The first workshop was dedicated to the department and hospital directors, and the Higher Steering Committee for Clinical Governance headed by HE Dr. Youssif Al Serkal, Assistant Undersecretary for the Ministry’s Hospitals Sector, to draw up the roadmap and strategic plan.
While the second workshop was for training the clinical governance committees that have been formed in hospitals and headed by Assistant Hospital Managers for Medical Affairs to develop the executive plan.
The workshops covered several vital topics, including; reviewing clinical governance practices for hospitals in the UK and Italy, strengthening the elements of clinical governance as an essential element in the healthcare, understanding the structure of clinical governance (current and future) in various healthcare facilities, and exploring Ideas, opportunities, enablers, and challenges related to achieving optimal clinical management.
Creating Operational Format for the Clinical Governance Strategy
HE Dr. Youssif Al Serkal said that organizing the two workshops comes in the wake of launching the “Clinical Governance Strategy for Hospitals” under the slogan “Our Way to Clinical Excellence”, as part of the “Clinical Governance Forum” held last November under the patronage of HE Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al-Owais, Minister of Health.
Aligned with the Innovation Strategy and Objectives of “2020: Towards the Next 50”
The workshops aim to draw up the roadmap and the executive path of clinical governance in collaboration with the World Health Organization and in the presence of International experts, as part of MoHAP’s efforts to upgrade the standards and quality of healthcare in conjunction with the UAE Innovation Month and at the outset of the “2020: Towards the Next 50” and its goals towards achieving important national files and building predictive governmental systems for the future, to reshape governmental services.
Al Serkal highlighted the role of the National Innovation Strategy in creating an institutional environment stimulating innovation, research and development, and building specialized national capabilities and attracting leading international companies in the field of innovation in all sectors of national priority, in line with the themes of the national agenda of the UAE Vision 2021.
Clinical Practice Standardization
“MoHAP is keen to enhance the capabilities of hospitals and their infrastructure, qualify its medical cadres to enable them to apply the best international standards and practices in the field of clinical governance while focusing on patient-centric services, and empower clinical management to form the crux of treatment practices,” he added.
“The inclusion of the clinical governance system in MoHAP’s hospitals would help promote the performance standards and the overall policies, procedures, protocols and clinical work systems, as well as empower the medical team to learn about the latest strategies to develop clinical work, and improve treatment according to international and evidence-based practices,”
He concluded that MoHAP’s Hospitals Sector is currently working on developing central guidelines for standardizing clinical practice, and measuring and monitoring a set of key performance indicators.
A Patient-Centered Enabling Structure
Dr. Kalthoum Al Baloushi, Director of MoHAP’s Hospitals Administration, said: “The primary goal of the clinical governance workshop is to increase the efficiency of staff and hospitals by making improvements in clinical performance. The clinical governance has become the backbone of healthcare systems worldwide, as an enabling structure putting patient safety at the top of its priority.”
Al Baloushi shed light on the objectives of the new clinical governance strategy including; ensuring the adoption of a cohesive and integrated approach for the healthcare provision, promoting the proper engagement of patients and their families in therapeutic protocols, and boosting the effective cooperation between various cadres at hospitals and stakeholders within multidisciplinary groups through rehabilitation and self-assessment methods.