According to Dr. Ade Alakija, Chairman of the Board of LASHMA, the Quality Improvement Program will help the State achieve distinction in healthcare services delivery and elevate the impact of the Lagos State Health Scheme. He said: ‘’This program will guarantee systemic results across the whole spectrum of our operations. While we are working hard to increase enrollments of Lagosians and health providers into the scheme, we want to ensure that every enrollee in this great State, irrespective of their location and status, can enjoy the highest attainable standard of health’’.
Delivering her remarks, the Country Director of PharmAccess Nigeria, Mrs. Njide Ndili, thanked the agency for its commitment to the Quality Improvement Program. Mrs. Ndili noted that it was unprecedented for a government agency to show such level of commitment to introducing quality improvement to its network of facilities, including private providers.
The Lagos State Ministry of Health adopted the SafeCare Quality Improvement standards in 2018. SafeCare started in the General Hospitals and some primary healthcare centers in Lagos, even before the take-off of the Scheme, some public facilities had already started implementing SafeCare.
SafeCare Director of Quality, Dr Ibironke Dada: “What LASHMA has done today is unprecedented, because an agency of the Government is now also paying for private providers to join the Quality Improvement Program of the State. We owe gratitude to the agency for its dedication and commitment to improve the public and the private provider network within the Scheme, to ensure that every Lagosian gets unfettered access to quality healthcare services.”
All health facilities in the scheme will receive a comprehensive assessment. After identifying quality gaps, each facility receives a tailored quality improvement plan. Progress and improvement can be monitored through the SafeCare digital platform.
Improving quality of care is essential to reach universal health coverage (UHC). Of casualties related to healthcare, 60% is due to poor quality of care, compared to 40% due to lack of access to quality and affordable healthcare. PharmAccess’ SafeCare is designed for healthcare providers resource-poor settings to assist them in stepwise quality improvement and the delivery of safer care to their patients.
