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Introduction

Quality patient care must be the fundamental value of a nation's health system. As Malaysia is moving towards the attainment of the objective of Vision 2020 i.e. to be a developed industrialised nation and as the thrust is towards privatisation, corporatisation and decentralisation, it becomes imperative that we develop a systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating the quality of healthcare provided.

The quality of healthcare is a major concern of the government, stakeholders, healthcare providers and consumers of health services. High quality care depends on the existence of trained motivated, and competent staff who work under suitable conditions with adequate resources. Measurement of the quality of care therefore requires assessment of the performance of healthcare facilities and service providers. The interaction of factors that contribute to the final outcome of care for patients such as organisation and management, human resource development and management, policies and procedure, facilities and equipment and quality improvement activities of an organisation need to be evaluated continuously. This will then ensure continuous improvement in quality of patient care and in the efficiency of a facility's operation, thus maintaining high professional standards of care.

What is Accreditation?

"Accreditation is a self-assessment and external peer-review process used by healthcare organizations to accurately assess their level of performance in relations to established standards and to implement ways to continuously improve the healthcare system." International Society for Quality in Health Care Inc. definition: Operating Rules 1998.


Purpose of Accreditation

The accreditation program provides an effective means whereby healthcare organisations can assess their level of performance against nationally applied standards. The accreditation standards offer a means whereby organisations can monitor and improve their performance on an ongoing basis. The regular survey visits provide an opportunity for external review and validation. The use of peer review techniques to assure the quality of organisation of healthcare provision is the basis of various voluntary accreditation programmes that already exist in several countries such as United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France. However, there are also countries where accreditation is mandatory for all healthcare facilities and services such as Taiwan.

By asking for accreditation, an organization agrees to be measured against internationally accepted standards set by healthcare professionals. An accredited organization substantially complies with MSQH standards and continually makes efforts to improve the care and services it provides. Healthcare organizations seek MSQH accreditation because it:

• Enhance community confidence
• Offers an objective evaluation of the organisation's performance
• Stimulates the organisation's quality improvement efforts
• Provides a staff education tool
• Fulfills licensure requirements
• May favourably influence liability insurance premium and managed care contract decisions