Pre-Hospital Care and the Quality Journey
What do we mean by Quality?
‘Quality’ is a very popular word these days, quality goods, quality services, quality at the heart of everything! We quite rightly get irate if a quality service is not provided or our purchases fail to impress on the quality stakes. Successful organisations in all fields work hard to improve their processes, their culture and introduce change in systems of operations to improve quality.
The concept of Continuous Quality Improvement is commonly presented through phrases like “quality is a journey not a destination”. The healthcare industry is certainly one such area where the notion of improvement, development and excellence is expected by the public. Whilst different organisations may be at different points on this on the quality journey, the key thing is that there is constant movement towards improvement.
PHECC have placed the public and the patient at the centre of all its deliberations. Our mission statement is a statement of our commitment to the principle of safety and excellence in care as a cornerstone of pre-hospital emergency care.
Pre-Hospital Care and the Quality Journey
PHECC acknowledges that the journey towards safety and excellence within organisations typically concentrates on the quality domain and often fit into two activities.
- The organisation reviews what is happening by examining what it’s doing (QA).
- It seeks to develop initiatives that will improve what it is doing (QI)
PHECC licences CPG providers to provide care to the public. Providers apply for a licence to operate and in doing so they provide a range of documents, policies, assurances, etc. In 2014, Council decided that it required assurances regarding the quality of service provision of licensed CPG providers who provide care to the public. Council agreed to create a system of assessing activities within its licensed CPG providers.
The Governance Validation Framework (GVF) is that system and will provide Council and the public with the assurance that it is delivering on its mission statement. GVF is a Quality Assurance system with a Quality Improvement focus.
It acknowledges that quality is a journey and encourages PHECC licensed CPG providers and practitioners to undertake it.
PHECC will continue to work with its licensed CPG providers to promote and develop a culture of safety and excellence through the GVF. Ruskin, the famous Victorian art critic, is quoted as saying “Quality is never an accident it is always the result of intelligent effort”. As providers and practitioners of pre-hospital emergency care we should all accept our responsibility to contribute towards delivery of a quality service for our patients.