OPENING ADDRESS BY

YBHG. DATUK DR NOOR HISHAM ABDULLAH

DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH MALAYSIA

CHAIRMAN OF PATIENT SAFETY COUNCIL MALAYSIA

30^TH APRIL 2015 (THURSDAY); 2:30pm

PATIENT SAFETY COUNCIL MEETING – 1/ 2015

YBhg. Tan Sri, Dato’-Dato’, ladies and gentlemen,

Assalamualaikum wbt, a very good afternoon and Salam Sihat 1 Malaysia.

First of all, I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone to the First Meeting of the Patient Safety Council for 2015. It is thus a great honour for me to Chair this meeting today. My sincere gratitude to all for demonstrating your commitment to patient safety by being present today.

Members of the Council,

Today, I am happy to inform you that Malaysia has now been seen as one of the exemplary country in terms of its effort and initiative to improve Patient Safety. For instance in January this year, Malaysia was invited by the World Health Organization to be part of the panel to present “The Role of Policy Maker In Implementing Patient Safety” particularly in the context of patient engagement during “Patient Safety Week” in Doha, Qatar. We have also received invitations to present our success stories and challenges on patient safety in International Conferences in Thailand and Sri Lanka. In fact recently World Health Organization and OECD have approached the Ministry of Health to host the “4th Consultation on Healthcare Improvement Network in the Asia Pacific Region” in December this year with more specific focus on Patient Safety and Patient Engagement. The selection is very much based on Malaysia’s commitment and various initiatives in trying to improve patient safety. I am very proud about this positive development as it proves that our efforts have been acknowledged internationally.

Members of the Council,

Please allow me to take this opportunity to give a brief summary on the patient safety strategies in our country. In Malaysia, we have 7 main strategies in improving patient safety and these are-

• First – Having specific organisational structures, which are: Patient Safety Council and PATIENTS for Patient Safety Malaysia at the national level. At the facility level we have Patient Safety Committee to look into issues related to patient safety and improve the system at facility level.
• Second – Having good networking and collaborations. For instance, we currently collaborate closely with WHO and ISQUA. At the national level, we Council Members who represent the main stakeholders, do work hand in hand together.
• Third – Having specific policies and guidelines related to patient safety. For example, recently on the 30^th of March, we launched a Guideline on Suicide Risk Management in Hospitals during an MOH Patient Safety Seminar organised by the Patient Safety Unit in collaboration with the Psychiatry and Mental Health Services. This guideline was produced to prevent inpatient suicide, which do happen every now and then.
• Fourth – Continuously promoting and educating our healthcare staff and public to improve our healthcare system and delivering safer care, for instance during the undergraduate training and houseman training.
• Fifth – Having a national monitoring system specific on patient safety, which is our Malaysian Patient Safety Goals. This monitoring system also can be used at facility level to monitor the status of patient safety more closely.
• Sixth – Conducting various research related to patient safety and some of the research findings have been translated into national policy. An example is the Lab Critical Value Programme, which is now one of the Malaysian Patient Safety Goals.
• Seventh – Having specific program on patient safety such as Incident Reporting and Root Cause Analysis; Clean Care Safer Care; Safe Surgery Saves Lives; medication safety; transfusion safety; ventilator care bundle and many others.

Having systematic multiple strategies and involvement of various key players including the patients are certainly the key success factors. Patient safety is certainly about the patient, and the patient should be our focus.

Members of the Council,

During the 2^nd PATIENTS for Patient Safety Malaysia In country Workshop 2014 on the 29^th and 30^th Sept, the patients had defined ‘patient engagement as a step wise process’, starting from “patient education” to “patient engagement” and “patient partnership”. Four key elements in ensuring successful patient engagement between patients and healthcare providers are both parties must have the “interest”, must be “willing” to work together, must have the “commitment” and it should be a “two-way relationship”.

Therefore I would like all council members to think about how we can further enhance and facilitate patient engagement in our country. Currently MOH, MSQH and PATIENTS for Patient Safety Malaysia are conducting pilot projects involving 14 public and private hospitals focusing on patient engagement in improving medication safety and preventing patient fall. We need to think about other creative and innovative ways of having patient with us to improve patient safety. Probably by next year we can organise a National Campaign on Patient Engagement in Patient Safety, and the Council Members can certainly share your ideas and initiatives.

Members of the Council,

Always remember that we are the leaders in patient safety and have a great responsibility in making patient safety a national agenda.

Thank you.

Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah

Director General of Health Malaysia

Ministry of Health Malaysia