CHENNAI: A baseline survey on hospital utilisation and patient satisfaction with services provided in hospitals in the State will be conducted as part of the World Bank-funded Health Systems Project (HSP) to measure and enhance the quality of health care.

The hospitals will also be graded, eventually, based on their performance in the quality rating survey.

12 quality indicators

A series of 12 quality indicators have been developed after consultations with relevant agencies, and will be the desired benchmark for the quality care in the State. These performance-related indicators include availability of patient amenities, adequate number of beds, emergency admissions, efficient blood bank services, availability of stocks, proper health waste disposal systems, measures taken for infection control, accuracy of record-keeping, cleanliness and sanitation in the hospital premises.

A sample size, representative of the whole state, would be chosen and the surveys conducted in the identified hospitals. Expected to commence in July, the project is likely to be completed by December 2005.

Consultant to do the job

Contracts will be outsourced to a consultant with experience in rating to put together a team of five professionals, including a public health specialist with experience in clinical and administrative areas, a nurse and a health specialist with experience in quality of care projects.

The agency, which is expected to work in close consultation with the HSP team, will also develop the design protocols and questionnaires for an objective and reliable survey, carry out exit-interviews with patients, focus-group discussions and house-to-house interviews, analyse the data and assist the government in interpreting the findings. The team would also have to define the areas where there is a shortfall in performance compared to the agreed benchmarks and identify the factors responsible for this. Providing feeback to individual hospitals about their performance is also part of their defined set of tasks.

Survey at all levels

It is also proposed to carry out a survey in all the district, taluk, sub-taluk and community hospitals on a yearly basis, in order to measure the quality of care as against the situation that existed at the time of the baseline survey and evaluate if the interventions have been effective.

The HSP project, started with a budget outlay of Rs.597.15 crores, aims at improving the infrastructure and quality of care in all the 29 district hospitals and 241 sub district hospitals over five years.

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