Lviv, together with WHO, launched a quality monitoring system for the provision of primary medical care services in the community. Therefore, the Lviv community became the first in Ukraine to continuously monitor the quality of the provision of such services.
“We had the idea to create a system for monitoring primary medical care services. Therefore, in cooperation with the health care department of the Lviv City Council, the World Health Organization, and medical information systems HELSI and Doctor Eleks, we created such a project. We have developed 16 indicators, according to which the work of this area is analyzed and which will become the basis for making further decisions, for the improvement of primary medical care,” explains Maksym Terletsky, Acting Director. director of CU City Institute.
Main monitoring indicators: general use of PMD services; workload of PMD doctors; various vaccinations and screenings; the practice of prescribing antibiotics; avoidable hospitalizations, etc. These data make it possible to identify and analyze the reasons that affect the operation of medical institutions and the satisfaction of residents’ needs.
“If we talk about the medical field, we understand how important the role of those people who work in this field is. But no less important is the issue of management. Without measuring indicators, we cannot understand whether certain management decisions were correct. Therefore, the implementation of this system provides these objective and transparent conclusions, on the basis of which even more effective decisions can be made,” emphasizes Valentina Bartoshyk, director of the humanitarian policy department of the Lviv City Council.
It is interesting that the data of this monitoring is not only a basis for the future improvement of primary care, but already helps family doctors to carry out their daily work.
“The indicators of this monitoring are a help for the family doctor himself. These data are a certain tool in their work, because now their patients are clearly formed by population groups and doctors can easily give referrals for certain examinations. We already have cases where oncological or chronic diseases were detected in the early stages with the help of this system during routine screenings,” shared Iryna Tsegelyk, medical director of the 4th hospital of the Second Medical Association of Lviv.
Monitoring data is available in a new section on the open data portal “City Panel”. Here, the results of the quarterly monitoring of the quality of the provision of primary medical care services in the community will be highlighted based on the data obtained from the medical information systems HELSI and Doctor Eleks in a generalized form, without disclosing personal data of patients.
The pilot implementation of the monitoring system in the Lviv community will help WHO and the National Health Service to develop national standards for monitoring primary medical care services in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is a big, wonderful and multifaceted country, so primary medical care works differently in different regions. This pilot project indicates the high level that has been achieved. Ukraine really wants to develop its medical sphere, to reform medicine, despite all the difficulties that are on the way. We’ve been thinking about how we can track this success. Lviv and tracking medicine based on these indicators is what helps us reach the next level. It will be important to look at this monitoring in a year or two to see if primary health care for Ukrainian citizens is improving,” concluded Jarno Habicht, head of the WHO office in Ukraine.
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In total, 534 family doctors provide primary medical care in ten city health care facilities. There are 706,305 patients registered in the Lviv community who receive primary medical care in city health care facilities.
This is the final event of the project “Access and improvement of the quality of primary medical care in Ukraine, the city of Lviv”, implemented by the Municipal Institute of the City in cooperation with the health care department of the Lviv City Council and medical information systems with the support of the WHO.