Under the auspices of His Excellency the Vice Minister of Health for Planning and Development, Dr. Muhammad Khoshaim, the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions (CBAHI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH), organized a scientific symposium under the title: “Clinical Audit: British & Saudi Experiences”.
The symposium was held on Thursday morning at the MOH headquarters, with the participation of a number of supervisors of the clinical audit programs at the Ministry of Health, the National Guard and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC); in an endeavor to transfer the British expertise in this domain to Saudi Arabia and compare it to the Saudi one.
For his part, the Director General of the CBAHI, Dr. Salim bin Abdullah Al-Wahhabi, has pointed out that this symposium comes as part of the scientific symposia series, organized monthly by the CBAHI throughout the Kingdom; with a view to promoting scientific research and exchanging expertise on the latest developments in the fields of health quality, patient safety and health accreditation in the world.
Hence, the CBAHI hosted the Medical Director of Hospitals affiliated to Bristol University in the UK, Dr. Sean O'Kelly, who is one of the world's leading experts in the clinical audit domain.
“Clinical Audit is one of the most important approaches adopted by many countries in the world, in order to monitor the level of health care offered to patients, meanwhile assessing its validity, effectiveness and compliance with the internationally-adopted standards, as well as redressing the shortcomings if any. For such reasons, the CBAHI has organized this symposium to transfer the British pioneering expertise to Saudi Arabia in the clinical audit domain," said Dr. Al-Wahhabi.
He added, "The Saudi Ministry of Health has the largest clinical audit program all over the Kingdom and the Middle East. This program was launched five years ago, and then extended to include tens of the MOH hospitals, given that it comprises (49) indicators to monitor quality of services provided at the hospitals."
Furthermore, Dr. Al-Wahhabi pointed out that the Ministry orders the hospitals to observe and submit those indicators periodically. He also highlighted that the aforementioned program helps the CBAHI's efforts to force hospitals to apply quality and safety standards, which necessitate measuring performance indicators on a regular basis.
It is worth mentioning that the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions is the national entity entitled to grant the accredited quality certificates to all governmental and private health facilities in Saudi Arabia. The CBAHI, which is affiliated to the Saudi Health Council (SHC), is primarily in charge of assessing the health facilities; with a view to checking their commitment to quality and patient safety standards designed for this purpose.
The CBAHI initially embarked its work by virtue of a Ministerial Decree dated 1/9/1426 H, under the title: "The Central Council for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions". It continued to perform the tasks entrusted to it until its name has was changed to the Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions by virtue of the Council of Ministers' Decree dated 24/11/1434H. Meanwhile, the center kept on developing and applying the national standards for quality and patients safety at all health facilities, as well as granting the related accreditation certificates.
Moreover, all governmental and private health facilities must obtain the national accreditation from the CBAHI. Also, the Saudi Ministry of Health requires the health facilities' commitment to applying the national accreditation standards set by the CBAHI, and asks any private health facility to submit the accreditation certificate as a future requirement to ensure the validity of their licenses.