The 1st Meeting of the Minds on Quality of Care, organized by the Athens Quality of Care Office, Division Country Health Policies and Systems, WHO Regional Office for Europe took place in December 2nd and 3rd . In this meeting Portugal was represented by Prof Paulo Sousa and Prof Adalberto Fernandes from the National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon, Prof. Fernando Araújo, President of the Administration board of the university hospital of São João, Prof Válter Fonseca. Director of the Department for Quality in Health – General Directorate of Health, Dr. Alexandre Lourenço President of APAH and European Association of Hospital Managers, and by Dr. António Marques Pinto, President of European Association of Junior Doctors.
The meeting served as the ideal forum for discussions of quality of care and patient safety issues that require openness, transparency, innovation and accountability for the transformation of health systems, health promotion and protection cultures.
The 1st WHO Meeting of the Minds on Quality of Care aimed to:
i) Produce a Compendium of applied good practices based on Member States’ response at national, regional or even local or facility level, during the COVID-19 pandemic as relates to quality of care and patient safety issues;
ii) Elicit the main elements of a roadmap/ framework for implementation of essential actions, to move forward on each one of the five thematic areas that form the focus of this meeting.
Theme 1. Innovation, cutting edge tools and good practices in the fields of quality of care and patient safety including digital health services
Theme 2. Partnerships, stakeholders’ engagement and establishment of supportive collaboration and mutual learning networks in the area of quality of care
Theme 3. Response during COVID-19 pandemic related to quality of care and patient safety
Theme 4. Patients’ perspectives on quality: enhancing patient-informed involvement and shared decision making in healthcare
Theme 5. Implementation and evaluation of evidence- based national quality of care plans/initiatives.