76 health centers accredited with support of the health systems in Jordan

In light of its efforts to improve the quality of primary healthcare services, the USAID-funded Health Systems Strengthening II (HSS II) Project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, recorded yet another achievement by helping 76 health centers receive accreditation from the Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC), which reflects directly on the level of satisfaction of service providers and receivers alike.
HSS II Chief of Party Dr. Sabry Hamzah said that over the past years, the project, in partnership with the Ministry of Health Quality Directorate as well as Health Directorates in various areas of the Kingdom, prepared 120 health centers to receive accreditation from the HCAC.
On his part, Ministry of Health Secretary General Dr. DeifAllah Al Lozi said that royal directives and the Ministry’s strategy focus on improving the quality of and access to healthcare services and improving health policies. Accordingly, the Ministry worked with HSS II to sustain the improvement in primary health services by implementing a collaborative approach in select healthcare centers.
Ministry of Health Quality Directorate Director Dr. Ghassan Fakhoury and Amman Health Directorate Quality Manager Chief Dr. Mahmoud Salameh both considered the collaborative approach implemented by the project to have contributed to helping health centers face the challenges of implementing standards, most significant of which were lack of equipment and appliances and some basic materials and requirements in the emergency departments, emergency exits and infrastructure, in addition to lack of qualified cadres in this field.
Accordingly, it proved efficient in facilitating and accelerating the process of obtaining accreditation.
In this context, Amman Health Directorate Director Dr. Leil Al Fayez said, "The collaborative approach was effective and efficient in Amman Directorate. Through this methodology, healthcare centers were supervised by project coordinators through field visits to ensure the implementation of standards firsthand. Training courses were also conducted to handle issues and challenges those centers may face." The collaborative approach focuses on exchange of expertise and knowledge transfer between participating healthcenters, according to Project Chief of Party Dr. SabryHamzah, who described it as an educational system comprised of several activities including introductory and participatory sessions, through which the centers’ success stories are presented to help others in implementing standards and overcoming obstacles.
On his part, Manshiyyet Abu Hammour Health Center Manager Dr. Mohammed Adayleh said that documentation is the first issue that is faced in terms of implementing accreditation standards, since it prolongs the visitors’ waiting time. However, the project implemented a referral and appointment system that helped overcome this challenge, in addition to unifying and integrating the medical files of each beneficiary to include general medicine, maternal and child, and dental clinics.
Mrs. Fatima Mohammed, a client to Marka Comprehensive Health Center – one of the centers accredited with support from the project, said, "Implementing the appointment system in the center made things easier for us and shortened the waiting time. We now come on time, and most times we do not have to wait longer than 10 minutes." Khreibet Al Souk Health Center Manager Dr. Salem Rawahneh confirmed that integrating and unifying medical files helped prevent duplication in treatment, since it allows doctors to review a patient’s complete medical history including immunizations, genetic and chronic diseases and others, in addition to laboratory tests and procedures, x-ray imaging, and medications given to patients in different medical specialties.
On the other hand, Dr. Jamil Hawatmeh, Jabal Tareq Health Center Manager, confirmed that the most significant benefit of accreditation is networking and partnership with the local community through Community Health Committees which prepared surveys to detect chronic and serious diseases and determine priorities.
In terms of the benefits of accreditation of healthcare centers, Dr. Fakhoury confirmed that it is the fastest and most successful method to improve healthcare services, since it in itself is not a goal but a tool to sustain the improvement in healthcare services. Dr. Fakhoury said, "We look forward to institutionalizing the accreditation process by establishing a special department within the Quality Directorate to ensure the continuity of procedures and implementation of standards in different healthcare centers across the Kingdom which reach over 700 centers."