His Excellency the Minister of Health, Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al-Jalajel, honored today the winners of the Patient Experience Excellence Award in its third edition for the year 2021.
The Director of Health Affairs in Najran and the Executive Director of Al-Moosa Specialist Hospital in the Eastern Province won the Best Influential Leader Award, as well as King Faisal Hospital in Al-Taif. Winners of the Best Inspirational Story Award were Badr General Hospital and King Khaled Hospital in Najran, in addition to King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital in Al-Taif.
Winners of the excellence awards in healthcare services were King Khaled Hospital and Prince Sultan Center in Al-Kharj, who won the ‘Best Patient Experience’ Award. The Maternity and Newborn Hospital won the award in Al-Taif, and Sarat Abida General Hospital won it in Asir. In the area of utilizing beneficiaries’ voice data, winners of the award were the Department of Patient Experience in Hail Health Complex, and the Department of Patient Experience at Northern Borders Health Affairs General Directorate.
The Minister also honored the winners of the Fruitful Advisory Board Award. They were King Khaled Hospital in Hail, the Department of Patient Experience at Assir Health Affairs General Directorate, and the Executive Department at Riyadh First Health Cluster (C1).
As for the Best Improvement Projects Award, winners were Sharoura General Hospital in Najran, ‘Wassalny’ initiative at Jeddah Eye Hospital, Rahma Center in Erada Mental Health Complex in Hail, and Al-Mowasah Hospital in Tabuk.
The award of the Most Influential Treatment Journey went to Al-Bukayriyah General Hospital in Al-Qassim and Children's Hospital in Al-Taif. The award of the Highest Evaluation in the Patient Experience Measurement Program and External Clinics Journey went to King Khaled Hospital in Hafr Al-Batin, Al-Wuhaybiyah Center in Hail, Diabetes Center in King Abdullah Hospital in Bisha, Asir, Prince Faisal Cardiac Center in Asir, and King Fahad Medical City in Riyadh.
Noteworthy, the awards aim to support the concept of human-centered health care, as well as motivate health care providers and health leaders across the Kingdom to establish a culture of partnership with the beneficiaries. This will result in improving services and reinforcing the concept of ‘patient experience’.
“Health service are diverse. They keep developing and taking a lot of forms in terms of what they are and in the ways they are distinct. This development is only an attempt to improve and enhance the quality of life and the concept that human beings have a high value,” said Dr. Turki Al-Hamidani, Director of the Patient Experience Program at MOH. He added that humans are the cornerstone of the health services development process. Moreover, special attention has always been given to patients and their experience through research and studies, as this area is deemed a top priority for countries to achieve progress.
“We are here today at the Patient Experience Excellence Ceremony to honor those who have done an excellent job to improve patient experience, both in the public and private sectors. We seek to highlight the fields that contribute to reinforcing this concept to make the experience and treatment journeys of patients our top priority,” Al-Hamidani said.
For her part, Ayat Al-Ghamdi, Head of the Excellence Award Project at the Patient Experience Center, said that patient experience plays a major role in improving and enhancing the quality of health care. This is in line with the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to improve the level of services provided to beneficiaries, to achieve a main objective of the vision which involves enhancing the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. “This,” she added, “is why we sought to enhance the level of the services provided by spreading the culture of empathy, and improving the communication between service providers and beneficiaries, which positively affects the satisfaction of the latter.”
Al-Ghamdi said that a new award has been given this year to Assir Central Hospital in Asir region, in appreciation of the efforts of health professionals during the pandemic.