NGO Receives Health Facility Accreditation
The Society for Quality in Healthcare in Nigeria (SQHN) has launched its internationally certified health facility accreditation standards in a virtual meeting attended by dignitaries and healthcare practitioners from both public and private healthcare organisations across 10 States. A statement by the NGO explained that SQHN, a not-for-profit organisation founded by Late Prof. Adeyemo Elebute, commenced operations in 2003, with the mission to lead, advocate and facilitate the continuous improvement of quality, “and safety in healthcare in Nigeria through accreditation, education, collaboration and training.
In line with its mission, SQHN actively began the development of local healthcare facility accreditation standards in 2014 to guide and support healthcare facilities in Nigeria in their collective, “and individual journeys towards quality care delivery, excellent patient experience, and patient safety.”
According to the statement, “The SQHN standards were developed by Nigerians, for
Nigerian health facilities based on both local and international evidence-based practices and standards following extensive assessment of the Nigerian healthcare system and detailed deliberations with relevant stakeholders in both the public and private health sectors.
“Similar to international healthcare quality accreditation standards offered by USbased Joint Commission International (JCI) and South Africa based, Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) standards, the SQHN standards have gone through the rigorous review and certification processes of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua).
“SQHN is the only internationally recognised health facility accreditation entity in Nigeria. SQHN standards are specifically designed to improve the overall quality of the health sector by providing standardised assessment of the structures and processes necessary to achieve quality outcomes in a manner that promotes benchmarking and internal organization improvement of healthcare facilities.