I have now completed the second year of my term as ISQua CEO. I fully enjoy working to support our dynamic and vibrant network of Individual Members, Fellows, Institutional Members, and Organisational Partners to achieve our noble mission and vision.
For a network, it is important to meet; therefore, a highlight of the year is the annual ISQua Conference. Like everyone else, I was excited about coming together in Brisbane for the first time in three years. The prospects for this year’s conference in Seoul also look very promising: We have seen a marked increase in the number of abstracts received compared to last year, and the number of registrations is already excellent. There are special early bird rates for the conference available until the 7th of June, and if you join ISQua as a member, you will save money on your conference registration. Our partners, the Korean Society for Quality in Health Care (KoSQua), Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), and the Korea Institute for Healthcare Accreditation (KOIHA), and the other members of the Programme Planning Committee are doing great work to ensure that the conference once again will be memorable.
Visiting member organisations and partners around the World is stimulating. Over the last few months, I have visited India, Jordan, and Bahrain. It has been inspiring and encouraging to meet the commitment and engagement and see its impact, and we will have even more over the coming years. Quality is on the agenda everywhere.
Together with Prof Jeffrey Braithwaite, ISQua President, and Prof Ezequiel Garcia Elorrio, ISQua President-Elect, I participated in the 5th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety in Montreux, Switzerland, in February, arranged by the WHO. We took the opportunity to meet with our partners at the WHO Head Office and agreed with the Patient Safety Flagship that ISQua will establish a Patient Safety Task Force that will support ISQua in taking up fully the role of a stakeholder in the sense of WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan; we will establish this Task Force over the coming months.
Looking forward, there are other important tasks ahead of us.
The International Accreditation Programme (IAP) delivered by ISQua EEA is currently in its 5th edition. We have initiated an in-depth review and revision process, beginning with gathering information from a broad range of stakeholders; this information will feed into the actual revision, beginning with the Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards, but later also including the Standards for External Evaluation Organisation. The purpose of the revision is to ensure that the accreditation programmes accredited by ISQua EEA will support healthcare providers in meeting the present challenges: delivering safe, effective, person-centred, equitable healthcare; ensuring that healthcare systems are resilient and promoting sustainability; introducing co-production with staff and service users; leveraging the opportunities provided by the IT revolution we are facing. The value of the IAP is that it allows you to design an accreditation programme tailored for a specific purpose and context, to meet specific challenges while remaining assured that it meets fundamental principles for a good accreditation programme.
We are giving ISQua’s educational programmes, first and foremost the Fellowship, an extensive facelift. The interest in participating has grown rapidly, and it has proven not feasible to scale up to meet demand within the current model for delivery. Also, we must adapt to a world of AI and chatbots. The aim is to ensure that the Fellowship remains an affordable and easily accessible source of knowledge for self-improvement based on content delivered by world-renowned experts.
ISQua is also prepared to partner in consortia, responding to tenders for healthcare quality and safety projects.
So, as you will see, exciting times are coming. I look forward to commencing the journey into the future with you.
Carsten Engel.