The first Meeting of the Minds on Quality of Care, organized by WHO/Europe through the WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety in Athens, Greece, marked a milestone in WHO/Europe’s work in this area. The Athens Office has now launched a new series of webinars to take key learnings and discussions from the Meeting forward, starting with a call to improve quality of care by adopting digital technologies.
Digital technologies have been vital in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which countries have experimented with new approaches to providing care outside hospital and clinic walls. Malta, for example, created a telemedicine centre providing 24-hour medical advice and care to patients through telephone, photo and video consultations. In Portugal, authorities integrated mobile solutions with telecare by merging all health-related apps into a single one called SNS24, making digital transformation simple for all patients.
“We need to make sure that the digital technologies that are now becoming part and parcel of our health system delivery have all the attributes and features to ensure patient safety and to deliver quality care while improving access for everyone,” noted Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of WHO/Europe’s Division of Country Health Policies and Systems.
Ensuring fairness and inclusion
The first webinar in the Meeting of the Minds on Quality of Care series explored the potential and limitations of digital health approaches in improving quality of care. This virtual event brought together policy-makers, health experts and WHO representatives to discuss and share experiences of the implementation of digital technologies, the evolution of telehealth, the quality of digital health services for noncommunicable diseases and the use of telemedicine in different countries.
Digital health brings new opportunities for promoting clinical practice and improving patients’ experience. During the webinar, participants identified key drivers within digital innovation technologies that have worked, based on good practice examples. They also determined metrics to safeguard quality of care through digital transformation, in order to ensure fairness and promote the inclusion of different groups of people.
“The Athens Office is committed to building a strong network of people and institutions working towards quality care in the post-COVID-19 era. It is only by combining minds, experience and expertise that we can improve patient experiences and outcomes,” highlighted Dr João Breda, Head of the Athens Office.
The next 4 webinars, to be held between September and December 2022, will focus on the implications of COVID-19 on quality of care, patients’ perspectives on health care, networks, and global initiatives on quality of care.