Overview

Launched on 5th of October 2021 by Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr Nor Hisham Abdullah virtually in the Seminar for Quality in Healthcare, the National Policy for Quality in Healthcare (NPQH) for Malaysia – is formulated to guide both the public and private health sectors. It provides an official, explicit policy statement regarding the approach and actions required at all levels of health service delivery across Malaysia's health system aiming to systematically plan for enhancement of the quality of healthcare.

NPQH is built upon a comprehensive situational analysis of the state-of-quality of healthcare in Malaysia which apllied mixed-methods approach, involving review of data and qualitative assessment of stakeholders. This policy is aligned with national health policy as well as quality related policies and strategies that exist in different areas.

With tagline Bridging the silos, Accelerating improvement, this policy seeks to address and provide guidance on the implementation of 7 Strategic Priority (SP) within 5 years (2022 - 2026). This can be achieved through strong team work and collaboration within the health sectors.

Our aim is to deliver high quality of care for the people that is SAFE, TIMELY, EFFECTIVE, EQUITABLE, EFFICIENT, PEOPLE-CENTRED and ACCESSIBLE (STEEEPA).

These technical quality domains are strongly supported by three core values as our culture of work; CARING, TEAMWORK and PROFESSIONALISM.

In order to achieve this goals, seven (7) Strategic Priorities areas identified will be strengthened and enhanced. For further reading on the indicators, refer to our NPQH Strategic Priorities Indicators Guidebook (2023 - 2026).

Overview

Improving Integrated People-centred Services

Quality culture should be at the heart of high performing organisations. In this context, MOH Corporate Culture consisting the elements of “Caring, Professionalism and Teamwork” is an essential features of quality culture, which need to be embraced and translated into daily practice.

Five objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Understanding current level of the organisation’s quality culture, readiness for change and performances
Emphasis on employee wellness and welfare
Develop, implement and strengthen an engagement plan between top management and healthcare providers
Strengthen the reward, incentive and recognition system and mechanism
Review and optimise the system for healthcare facility accreditation to meet quality of care objectives

Strengthening Governance for Quality

Leaderships commitment to quality, governance structure for quality and investment in quality are three aspects deemed importance in strengthening the governance for quality.

Four objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Strengthening leadership commitment in quality through the monitoring of current organisations’ performances.
Underline the importance of quality in the MOH at top level management
Strengthening governance of the Quality Committee/ Department/ Session
Improving resources for Quality

Strengthening Internalisation of Quality Culture among All Healthcare Staff

Quality culture should be at the heart of high performing organisations. In this context, MOH Corporate Culture consisting the elements of “Caring, Professionalism and Teamwork” is an essential features of quality culture, which need to be embraced and translated into daily practice.

Five objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Understanding current level of the organisation’s quality culture, readiness for change and performances
Emphasis on employee wellness and welfare
Develop, implement and strengthen an engagement plan between top management and healthcare providers
Strengthen the reward, incentive and recognition system and mechanism
Review and optimise the system for healthcare facility accreditation to meet quality of care objectives

Enhancing Communication and Engagement of Stakeholders for Quality

Meaningful stakeholders’ collaboration and engagement are facilitated by effective communication between ministries, programmes, healthcare workers, patient and family and should be achieved from top-down and bottom-up, as well as horizontally across the continuum of care delivery.

Three objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Strengthen the interaction among programmes within the MOH
Strengthen the interaction among MOH programmes with other ministries, private sectors and the community
Foster knowledge sharing and knowledge translation platforms on quality improvement activities

Building Effective Capacity and Capability for Quality

Optimal allocation of human resource is the key pre-requisite for the success of quality programmes. The availability of a stable, capable health care workforce is critical to the efficient and effective delivery of health services.

Two objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Strengthen in-service quality improvement training encompassing technical and soft skills
Assessment of the training provided

Enhancing Measurement and Quality Improvement Initiatives

Objective measures of quality across the level of care and dimensions will foster evidence-based policy making. There should be a healthcare quality framework with a set of prioritised quality measures that measures quality reflecting local quality definition.

Four objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :

Reviewing and strengthening the measurement and indicator framework
Improving data quality
Managing data and linking data sources – strengthening MyHDW.
Using data for decision making

Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of Quality Programmes and Initiatives

In ensuring effectiveness and efficient use of resources for any quality improvement initiative, including the execution and implementation of NPQH, M&E should be integrated as part of the implementation plan.

Two objectives were outlined to achieve this SP :