The Health Facilities Accreditation is a sub-component of the Kazakhstan Health Services Technology Transfer and Institutional Reform Project (KSTTIRP.) The Canadian Society of International Health (CSIH) worked to improve the quality of healthcare services through the establishment of a Health Facilities Accreditation (HFA), which meets international standards, and through more efficient systems to recognize and credit institutions and health professionals.
Kazakhstan’s accreditation system is new and requires further strengthening. In January 2004, a Government Order was adopted which assured the accreditation of health care facilities and independent health professionals. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has been paving the way for an accreditation system since 2005.
To establish an HFA system, which meets international standards and to build capacity to ensure better quality of health care services.
CSIH worked closely with the MOH to provide technical assistance and capacity-building activities in the following areas: developing the standards used for the assessment of healthcare institutions, the training of surveyors to employ these standards, and the governance and operation of Kazakhstan’s national accreditation centre.
By project completion, 95 per cent of participants expressed certainty that upgraded standards and procedures had improved patient care. All aspects of the improved program received positive evaluations, indicating that it had been a welcome change. Furthermore, two sets of upgraded accreditation standards were successfully submitted for international accreditation, increasing international recognition for the Kazakhstan accreditation program.
In the future, the program should include the personnel of lower-level health facilities, as well as patients. Future regional training institutes could train surveyors and quality managers to ensure regional representation, as well as provide more time for facilities to complete self-assessments. The program should ensure that surveyors are provided with all necessary tools, such as laptops, and with continuously-updated documents that provide guidelines on survey procedures. Finally, the program should develop a way for the Accreditation Centre to communicate major trends in quality issues to the MOH.