Page 18 - NATIONAL POLICY QUALITY IN HEALTHCARE: Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements 2022-2026

National Policy for Quality in Healthcare
Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements

Executive Summary

The National Policy for Quality in Healthcare (NPQH) for Malaysia – is
formulated to guide both the public and private health sectors to improve the quality
of healthcare. NPQH aims to systematically plan for enhanced quality of healthcare
by providing an official, explicit policy statement regarding the approach and actions
required at all levels of health service delivery across Malaysia’s health system.
Together with its partners within and outside the MOH, the Institute for
Health Systems Research (IHSR) as the MOH Secretariat for QA/QI Programme and
the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Systems and Quality Improvement, took
the lead to realise this mission with the guidance of the WHO Consultant. The WHO
NQPS framework highlighting eight main elements in developing national quality
policy and strategy was used as the main reference for the policy development.

NPQH is built upon a comprehensive situational analysis of the state-of-
quality of healthcare in Malaysia which applied a mixed-methods approach, involving
review of data and qualitative assessment of stakeholders. Various quality related
documents were retrieved and reviewed, diverse groups of stakeholders including
public population were identified and engaged to voide their opinions about quality
of the health system, and existing Quality Improvement Initiatives were listed and
mapped.
A SWOT analysis revealed 10 key issues in the current state-of-quality of
healthcare in Malaysia which shaped the development of domains in the policy
statement and strategy for improvement. The local definition of quality was revised
through extensive review of both local and international quality related documents
and gathering input from key stakeholders to bring clarity to the concept of quality
that will unite both patients and healthcare providers with common domains for
measuring and monitoring quality of healthcare.

The NPQH focuses on the policy statement based on the findings from the
situational analysis. The agreed QUALITY DEFINITION focuses and consolidates
all the other elements or components. This clear definition better aligns quality
oversight with patient expectations and the health care delivery system’s evolution,
expansion, and complexity.

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