The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) has achieved the Diamond-level accreditation certificate from Accreditation Canada International (ACI), the highest level of accreditation award possible under the program and awarded to highly committed and quality-oriented organizations that monitor outcomes, use evidence and best practice to improve services.

This comprehensive assessment is based on the evaluation of a set of standards and criteria related to quality, safety, risk management and ethics of medical and support services, including finance, information technology, human resources, infrastructure, and management, and the Diamond Certificate comes as a new step on the road to success.

Dr. Maryam Abdul Malik, Managing Director of PHCC, said that the Corporation was able to obtain the Diamond Level certificate from ACI, an international and accredited body that helps health organizations around the world through an ongoing process of assessing quality of health and social services provided against international standards of excellence.

"Accreditation Canada certificate includes the effective participation of all leaders and officials at PHCC, frontline staff, patients, their families, and our community partners, as they work hand in hand to benefit from the available resources in the best way, increase efficiency, improve the quality of health services provided, and minimize risks."

Dr. Maryam Abdul Malik added, "The process of obtaining the ACI certificate constitutes a cornerstone for the launch and a continuation of quality improvement and patient safety initiatives, which enables PHCC to systematically and continuously evaluate and improve its services, in addition to supporting changes in policies and procedures, reducing risks, meeting and promoting the needs of partners, their families, and their values and beliefs. Thus, PHCC has become one of the internationally recognized institutions with a global primary health care system that serves its citizens, residents, and visitors. Obtaining the ACI certificate will also contribute to the continued commitment and credibility to improve the quality of health services provided to our partners."

For her part, Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Ali, Executive Director of Quality and Patient Safety Directorate, said, "PHCC is proud to announce that it has received the Accreditation Canada Diamond Level Status. We are also proud to announce that the Corporation is the first in the world to receive the people-centered care award, knowing that the certification renewal period is every three years."

Dr. Al Ali added, "The organizations who has obtained Diamond Level Status focus on achieving quality through monitoring outcomes, using evidence and best practice to improve services, and drawing comparisons with peer organizations."

Without a doubt, the pandemic that swept the world changed what we had to do every day, but it didnt change the fact that we still need to provide the highest levels of health care safely. From here, the Corporation has understood the importance of continuing the process of obtaining the ACI certificate as the standards are an integral part of patient safety, quality, and patient-centered care.

PHCC has completed the assessment to obtain the ACI certificate by following two approaches: communicating remotely with ACI residents and visiting the websites between November 2020 to March 2021. This was a new approach suggested by ACI; PHCC should submit the required documents on time to residents accredited by ACI. The assessment team then reviewed the documents submitted against the requirements and held virtual meetings with committees from the Primary Health Care Board. Committees membership was determined according to the requirements of ACI and PHCC was one of the first to apply this approach on.

PHCC held virtual meetings with the Canadian residents between Nov. 11-Feb. 15, and after the completion of the virtual survey, ACI organized virtual visits and field visits to 25 participating health centers and PHCC management between March 7-18 this year.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, it was an opportunity for PHCC staff to show their best, present the wonderful work they have done during the challenging pandemic, and provide the best services according to international standards of excellence in all clinical administrative departments.

PHCC has worked on preparing 20 major standards and nearly 900 standards between leadership, primary care services, services of excellence, medicine management, dentistry, diagnostic imaging, infection control, prevention, and laboratory standards. These standards had many other priority processes in the areas of clinical leadership, patient flow, influencing outcomes, decision support, human resource management and resource management, planning, service design and principled decision-making, quality management, emergency and disaster management, surrounding environment, medical devices and equipment, and people-centered care.

(QNA)