His Excellency the Health Minister, Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah stated that the Health Performance Program (Adaa') has reduced waiting time for patients at emergency departments by 18%, from an average of 30 minutes in 2017 to 25 minutes in 2018 and the number of patients treated at the emergency during a period of 4 hours increased by 140% compared to 2016. Also, waiting time for appointment at outpatient clinics was reduced by 58% compared to 2016, from an average of 59 days in 2016 to 25 days in 2018, and for mental health outpatient clinics, from referral to consultation for non-emergency cases, by 21%, from 24 days in 2017 to 18 days in 2018; and the time patient spends at the ICU reduced by 16%.
During a ceremony held today (Wednesday) to honor outstanding projects for improving performance at MOH's hospitals, AL-Rabiah said, "We have been working on developing hospitals' performance and improving the standard of medical services, and with better care for patient health, hospitalization period, thanks Allah, was reduced from an average of 6-7 days to 5-6 days as a result of increased inpatient's satisfaction and bed efficiency by 20%". He stressed that the program's achievements were reflected on the quality and efficiency of the medical services provided at all hospitals across the Kingdom's regions and provinces and helped them to achieve the best results as anticipated by the program. Such achievements allowed us to know the standard of the health services provided as per international standards and in comparison with the local, regional and international level, as well as highlighting the role played by the senior competencies and medical and technical cadres and exploring improvement opportunities to contribute to raising patient satisfaction standard and improving his experience through developing human resources and capitalizing on data using sophisticated technologies.
"MOH has consistently provided healthcare services to all members of community and achieved the highest levels of medical service in various fields. It spares no efforts to support whatever achieve these objectives and to strive for their continuity and effectiveness through expanding the scope of the service to cover all hospitals and primary and specialized healthcare centers, as well as integration between them and the National Transformation Program 2020 towards achieving the Saudi Vision 2030. This program is one of the outstanding programs to achieve our objectives, which an important percentage of them have been achieved as shown by a number of indicators for the services provided at emergencies and clinics, inpatient care services and other services, some of them have reached international levels" adds Al-Rabiah.
He added, "Our ambition is to provide the best medical services until, by Allah's Grace and then your concerted efforts, we can achieve the desired goals. The (Adaa') Programs is a key to raise performance efficiency and an essential data source to measure the level of services provided by health communities and directorates, and a mine to discover capacities, competencies and leaders, as well as a development process of one of its important axes, human resources development. We will continue supporting the program's expansion objectives, whether the number of facilities or the standards of primary healthcare services and specialized services. Also, the program will help to make comparisons and provide standards for rendered services at local, regional and international levels".
Al-Rabiah indicated that the program is integrated with MOH's efforts to create consistent performance indicators. It is also integrated with other axes, including: satisfying patient and improving his experience, quality and safety, developing human cadre, rationalizing expenditures, providing opportunities to utilize technical capabilities, as well as data provided by e-system, "Mawid" Program and the Health Information System (HIS).
He expressed his gratitude for the efforts exerted by MOH's staff to upgrade the level of services provided at all hospitals.
It is noteworthy that, during the ceremony, the best five hospitals in "Ada'a" program were honored, namely: Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health, Riyadh, Central region, Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health, Jazan, southern region, King Faisal Medical Hospital, Taif, western region, Maternity and Children Hospital, Al-Ehsa, eastern region and Al-Qurayyat General Hospital, Al-Qurayyat, northern region.