Marina Álvarez attends the ceremony for delivering these accreditations in Lisbon in the context of the Ibero-American Conference on Healthcare Quality which commemorates ten years of collaboration between Andalusia and Portugal

The consolidation of the Andalusian Quality Model in Portugal is a reality that has been demonstrated today with the delivery of certificates to 36 centres and units within the Portuguese healthcare, which have achieved the accreditation of the Portuguese Ministry of Health after passing the certification process based on the standards of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality (ACSA). The Minister of Health of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Marina Álvarez, has attended the ceremony for delivering such certificates, in the context of the Ibero-American Conference on Healthcare Quality, where she has publicly acknowledged the work done by the professionals “that have decided to face accreditation processes that required time, effort, as well as personal and professional sacrifice.”

Álvarez has said that she “strongly supports quality accreditation processes, because they improve professionals and contribute to the progress of patients and citizens”, and she has emphasised that those in which she has participated as professional enable “the provision of better services to patients, as well as an improved healthcare and an excellent delivery of cares.”

In addition, she has underlined “the accreditation power, which is not an end in itself, but a component of the health system transformation, a tool that guides and helps professionals and organisations to look for new and better solutions in healthcare.”

In this regard, she has recognised the value of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality model, emphasising that, among others, it has the triple accreditation of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua), one of the most prestigious organisations of the world with regard to healthcare quality.

Ibero-American Conference on Healthcare Quality

This meeting has been organised by the Directorate-General for Health of the Portuguese Ministry of Health in order to commemorate 10 years of collaboration between Portugal and Andalusia regarding healthcare quality.

The event also involved the participation of the Minister of Health of the Portuguese Republic, Adalberto Campos Fernandes; the Deputy State and Health Secretary, Fernando Araújo; the Secretary General of Health and Consumption of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare, Ricardo Campos Fernández; ACSA’s Director, Antonio Torres; the national expert in the European Commission, Enrique Terol; and different representatives of the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health, the Quality Department and the certified centres, among others.

Among the units that have received the accreditation, there are 15 healthcare centres within the regions of Lisbon-Vale do Tejo and Algarve; 18 services from several hospitals of Lisbon and Madeira; 2 clinical laboratories, and the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). Such units have passed their accreditation processes with ACSA’s standards manuals for clinical management units, laboratories and emergency centres, all translated into Portuguese. The Regional Minister of Health has encouraged all of them to continue with the accreditation, and to deal with standards from higher levels.

Cooperation regarding healthcare quality

The collaboration between Andalusia and Portugal in terms of healthcare quality started ten years ago with the initial contacts between the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality and the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health. As a result of such meetings, in 2010 Portugal implemented the Andalusian Quality Model as official model at the national level for the accreditation of health organisations and services. Since then, the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality, which is the certification body of the Andalusian Public Health System, collaborates closely with the Portuguese Ministry of Health, through several cooperation agreements aimed at supporting the quality policies and the accreditation processes in Portugal.

Such agreements have allowed the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health, through the Quality Department, to verify the quality of 118 Portuguese healthcare centres and to start the accreditation process for 125 new centres. All that is based on the resolution of the Certification Committee of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality, the body that issues the resolution of the certification process. The assessment processes are done via the computer application Aqredita, developed by the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality, and based on the standards included in ACSA’s accreditation manuals.

In addition, ACSA is responsible for the training given to the surveyors involved in the certification processes. Such training is carried out with the Surveyors Training Programme of the Andalusian body, recognised at the international level by The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua)’s Accreditation.

The cooperation between Andalusia and Portugal regarding healthcare has drawn the attention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which emphasised in one of its reports from 2015 the implementation of the Andalusian model in the neighbouring country, as an example of effective quality strategy.

“The work done along the last 10 years and the results that have been acknowledged today demonstrate that the route taken in 2009 was the correct one and that we have to walk along together”, said the Regional Minister of Health, who also reaffirmed the commitment of Andalusia with healthcare, so it will “continue encouraging the accreditation model and supporting its implementation in Portugal.”

International acknowledgement

The aim of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality, which is attached to the Regional Ministry of Health and has the management support of the Fundación Progreso y Salud, is to foster and promote the Andalusian Quality Model. It stands as the certification body of centres, medical care units and social services, as well as of professional competencies, continuous training and health web pages and blogs, according to the accreditation model of the Andalusian Public Health System, always striving for excellence in healthcare and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Moreover, the Agency is the independent assessment body of the European Reference Networks for rare diseases (ERNs), at the request of the European Commission; as well as of Reference Centres, Services and Units within the Spanish Health System (CSUR-SNS), at the request of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

ACSA’s work regarding the boost of quality has received the endorsement of prestigious organisations renowned at the national and international level, such as the National Accreditation Body (Entidad Nacional de Acreditación, ENAC) or the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), one of the most prestigious organisations of the world with regard to healthcare quality.

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