Gvt crafts its own hospital quality standards, sans world class local body

Abstract

Beleaguered public hospitals and clinics, due for a quality assurance ‘make-over’ and continual monitoring in advance of the much-vaunted National Health Insurance (NHI), may emerge little better in spite of strenuous government efforts.

The pivotal Office of Standards Compliance (OSC), tasked with drafting and monitoring minimum health care standards nation-wide, has parted ways with the local leaders in the field and could be headed for dysfunction, some experts believe.
After intermittent OSC consultation with, and several last minute appeals for help from the local NGO with the strongest track record, the two bodies have reached a stand-off, neither talking to the other after disagreement on several issues. Several consultants to the OSC also believe that its failure to fully incorporate the best local advice and keep its top local advisor on board has led to poorly developed measurement standards, a dangerously accelerated process and deeply flawed pilot studies. The OSC denies this, claiming to have obtained ‘enormous buy-in’ from provincial teams and other stakeholders and to be on track with ‘reliable, flexible and validated’ measurement tools.

The 15-year-old, not-for-profit NGO called the Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA), has already independently assessed, monitored and accredited 55 public and 25 private sector local hospitals, based on essential performance indicators.