-to improve care and accountability

-by Kimberly Giddings

The Ministry of Health is rolling out a new quality audit system aimed at strengthening patient care and accountability across the public health system. This initiative will see doctors and nurses being monitored to ensure established treatment protocols are being followed.

The system is expected to add another layer of accountability for healthcare workers while improving patient care. Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony says this will help strengthen the country’s healthcare system by addressing gaps in treatment and improving standard of care.

“So our internal audit or quality audit, clinical audit, they would go out, pull random charts, check the charts, see whether or not the patient has been receiving the care that they should be receiving, and if there’s a gap, then they would point that out to the physician and the nurses and so forth, and they’ll give them a couple of months to get these things corrected.  If it is found that healthcare professionals require additional training, recommendations will be made to improve their performance,” he explained.

Dr. Anthony says doctors and nurses will be also held accountable in cases where negligence is determined to have contributed to patient deaths, particularly maternal deaths.

“So that has been our approach to it, and for the nurses, if there are any negligence on their part, then they go before the nursing council. And in extreme cases, you can have your license pulled, and you’re prevented from practicing in Guyana,” he added.

Over the years, the ministry has increased training for healthcare professionals to better manage maternal patients, and this, the minister says, will continue.