We want the care we deliver to be coordinated, accessible and affordable. At the same time, we are committed to reducing preventable harm and managing ris​ks inherent in medical care. 

As such, NHG’s vision of quality and safety is expressed through our six domains of healthcare quality, which states that our care must be:

  1. Safe - Avoid injuries to patients as we deliver care to them.

  2. Effective -​ Provide value-added services based on scientific knowledge to all who could benefit to avoid under- and over-utilisation.

  3. Patient-centred - Provide care that is respectful of and responsive to patient preferences, needs, and values, and ensure that patient values guide all clinical decisions.

  4. Timely - Reduce wait times and delays for those who receive and provide care.

  5. Efficient - Avoid waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, and resources.

  6. Equitable - Provide care that is of consistent quality, regardless of patients’ gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socio-economic status.

To achieve this, we implement measures such as:

  • ​Proactive risk assessment and safety briefings

  • Use of care-bundles and clinical pathways

  • Service philosophy  

  • Redesigning care processes

  • Monitoring quality indicators

  • Breakthrough collaboratives 

With the support of NHG’s management and leaders, we make quality everyone’s priority – from doctors to hospital attendants – by aligning our culture, work processes and delivery systems. These measures also bolster our learning and accountability.

 

Quality and Safety framework

Policies and goals for clinical, operational and service quality are implemented through our vertically integrated NHG Quality & Safety Framework (below). This structure guides our managers, clinicians, nursing staff and administrators in strategising, implementing, monitoring, improving and correcting the quality of NHG's patient-centred care.


Click HERE ​to view the framework.


Our milestones

Since NHG began its quality and patient safety journey in 2000, our achievements and initiatives include:

  • ​Clinical Practice Improvement Programme (started 2001)

  • Electronic voluntary incident reporting system (2003)

  • Patient safety leadership walkabouts (2004)

  • Appointing patient safety officers (2005)

  • Breakthrough collaboratives such as the medication safety collaborative (2004), the critical results laboratory collaborative (2007) and the MRSA collaborative (2007)

  • Serious reportable event monitoring (2011) 


​​