Building the programme
Patient Safety is gaining increasing momentum in Africa. The 2008 WHO African Regional Committee Meeting provided a forum for African Ministers of Health to articulate commitment to the issue of Patient Safety. Thirty five of the forty six WHO African Regional countries have now pledged action on infection control. The NHS and Department of Health in England have shown sustained commitment to the use of partnership focused approaches to support African health system development. WHO Patient Safety is the natural home for facilitating such development.
Vision
Safe health care in every country of Africa through sustainable partnerships.
Mission
To catalyze improvements in patient safety through the use of partnerships and to facilitate the spread of patient safety improvements across & between countries.
- Promote collaboration across and between partnerships in developing a cadre of trained individuals in each APPS hospital focused on patient safety excellence;
- Facilitate the implementation of multiple patient safety initiatives in each APPS hospital;
- Demonstrate significant quantifiable improvements in health outcomes for individuals and populations in member states within Africa and Europe;
- Support hospitals in member states across Africa and Europe to function as a national resource for spread of patient safety systems and capacity building;
- Facilitate effective connections between the APPS hospital and a range of key stakeholders (government, academia, professional societies, primary care, patient groups, communities and other institutions involved with patient safety);
- Promote APPS hospitals as “amplification points” for patient safety nationally and regionally.
Values
Our values, underpinned by our vision and manifested in our mission are centred on partnership, respect, cultural sensitivity, collaboration and the pursuit of excellence in patient safety.
Three core APPS objectives
- To build and strengthen partnerships between hospitals in Africa and Europe, focusing on patient safety.
- To implement patient safety improvements in each partnership hospital.
- To facilitate the spread of patient safety improvements across each country.
The programme scope
To deliver sustainable patient safety improvements. The initial focus is health care-associated infection prevention starting with improved hand hygiene. APPS also provides an entry point for multiple patient safety interventions as decided by each partnership. Although the initial focus is on hospitals, the entire health system is being taken into consideration.
The approach
The programme takes a product based approach to planning. The series of products are specifically based around 5 programme pillars (technical, partnership, external linkages, operational logistics and sustainability).
Once a partnership has been agreed, our partnership approach then involves the two hospitals working through an assessment, undertaking planning and then implementing a range of improvements using WHO and other improvement methods and resources.