(Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra) is performing
an innovative project composed of several stages.
They are developing some learning materials while
evaluating the feasibility and validity of the patient
as auditor. Furthermore, they are exploring the
experiences and perceptions of patients,
professionals and managers about the role of
patients as safe practices auditors.
sweden
Mr Erik Svanfeldt
HOPE Governor, Swedish Association of Local
Authorities and Regions (SALAR)
Could you outline the strategy/approach
adopted in your country on quality and
patient safety or the two/three initiatives
in the hospital and healthcare sector in the
past ten years?
One important initiative on quality in the
healthcare sector was the annual open regional
comparisons of healthcare quality and efficiency,
that the Swedish National Board of Health and
Welfare and SALAR started to publish annually in
2006. SALAR now provides such statistics online at
vardenisiffror.se.
The purpose was to make the publicly financed
healthcare system more transparent, promote
healthcare management and control, and to
contribute to improved data quality and simplified
data access. The comparisons are based on several
different indicators reflecting various dimensions
of quality and efficiency such as medical outcomes,
availability, patient experience and costs. Different
sources are used, like the national healthcare
quality registries and population/patient surveys.
Comparisons have changed the perspectives, by
giving attention to differences in medical results
and outcomes, and revealing regional differences
concerning quality of care. Now the debate is not
just on compliance to budget, but also to a larger
extent on quality issues.
Patient safety has been on the Swedish policy
makers’ agenda for several years. From the early
2000s, SALAR put in place a number of actions
that were further accelerated by a four-year
agreement signed in 2011 between SALAR and
the Swedish Government. This national initiative
highlighted healthcare-associated infections,
fall injuries, pressure ulcers, malnutrition,
medication errors, and antimicrobial resistance.
In 2010, a new Patient Safety Act was also
introduced, promoting among other things
proactive work, risk reduction a