Quality improvements at HUS in 2019 focused on preparing a Quality and Patient Safety Plan and acquiring a quality system covering all occupational groups, JCI accreditation. Also, a patient and treatment guideline databank project was launched jointly by the Quality and Patient Safety unit (LAAPO) and HUS IT Management. In 2019, we devised quality indicators and how they are to reported, reorganized our quality work and added considerably to our training and communications. We increased international cooperation for instance with the other Nordic countries and the USA.
The adoption of the new patient and customer information system, Apotti, in its first phase of production use in November 2018 had an impact on quality work through reporting, standardization and patient safety monitoring. We are also improving quality in the Magnet Hospital project focusing on the quality of nursing and with certifications/accreditations for a number of support services.
The HaiPro hazard notification system is an essential element in improving patient safety. At the moment, it is the best way for gaining information on the operations of the various units, and several important development needs emerge from these notifications every year. Digitization projects make our services more customer-oriented and uniform, both of which are key elements in quality improvement.
Quality and Patient Safety Plan
HUS has been preparing an annual patient safety plan and report for several years now. In 2019, we prepared for the first time a Quality and Patient Safety Plan (LAAPO) 2019–2020. It is required in the Health Care Act that every health care organization must have a plan for the implementation of quality management and patient safety. In public health care, a LAAPO plan is also the organization’s self-monitoring plan.
Patient safety is a component of quality, but because of its importance it was included in the title of the HUS Quality and Patient Safety Plan. The LAAPO plan and report are always discussed by the LAAPO management team and the Group Executive Group before the Executive Board of the Joint Authority HUS approves it. The HUS Executive Board approved the LAAPO Report for 2019 on April 6, 2020.