Page 11 - Regional Services Plan 2016/19

Objective 3: Improve quality across all regional services
Quality in health is a fundamental expectation. Within healthcare there is no universally accepted definition of ‘quality’. However the US Institute of Medicine (IoM) definition states that quality is the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge. [1]
The IoM has identified six dimensions through which quality is expressed. They are:
 Safety - avoiding harm to service users from care that is intended to help them
 Effectiveness - providing services based on scientific knowledge and which produces clear benefit
 Patient centeredness – providing care that is respectful or responsive to individual needs, values and cultures
 Timeliness – reduced waits and sometimes harmful delays
 Efficiency – maximising resource and avoiding waste
 Equity – providing care that does not vary in quality because of a person’s characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, geographical location, socio-economic status.
This definition supports the World Health Organisation view of quality and also underpins the New Zealand Triple Aim which the Midland DHBs have adopted.
The Triple Aim means:
 improved quality, safety and experience of care
 improved health and equity for all populations
 better value for public health system resources.
Midland DHBs are committed to work with the Health Quality and Safety Commission (HQSC) in the ongoing development of a quality framework for the New Zealand health system, including further development of DHB Quality Accounts and Quality Safety Markers.
The Midland DHBs have an established Quality and Risk Managers Forum to promote a regional approach to appropriate improvement projects, to work with the Commission to design and implement topic specific approaches and to provide leadership for quality across the region.
The region’s Quality and Risk Managers are active participants in the national quality and risk managers group, as well as sitting on a number of the advisory groups attached to the HQSC
REGIONAL SERVICES PLAN 2016-2019
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