Mediclinic Middle East, one of the UAE’s leading private healthcare groups, has recently completed its first company-wide Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation initiative, with all seven hospitals and 21 clinics in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain receiving JCI accreditation.
JCI is considered the gold standard in healthcare accreditation and the most rigorous evaluator of international standards in quality and patient safety. In the U.S., Joint Commission (JC) has accredited over 20,000 organisations/ hospitals and its international wing Joint Commission International (JCI), operating outside of the U.S., and has accredited hundreds of facilities in 90 countries worldwide.
The successful accreditation process, which began at Mediclinic Ibn Battuta, Dubai in May 2019 and concluded at Mediclinic City Hospital in Dubai earlier this month, means that patients at every Mediclinic Middle East facility in the UAE can be assured of the highest levels of service, safety and healthcare quality, benchmarked against global best practice.
David Hadley, CEO of Mediclinic Middle East, said: “Mediclinic Middle East’s focus on ethical, high quality, international standard healthcare services has been recognised by JCI in this unprecedented group-wide accreditation. A huge amount of time and effort has been invested in making sure that all our hospitals and clinics can withstand the rigorous assessment carried out by JCI, and underlines our commitment to providing a superior level of service to all our patients, wherever they live and whichever facility they visit.”
Dr. Zaka Ullah Khan, Senior Corporate Medical Director, Mediclinic Middle East, said: “The accreditation is granted for three years with a triannual renewal. It is considered the gold standard of Patient Safety and Quality. JCI accreditation is mandated by DHCRA and is considered as a minimal standard of quality and patient safety for the DHA and the DOH.”
The JCI has 14 chapters in both the hospital and the ambulatory care standards. These are divided into 291 standards for the hospitals and 154 for ambulatory care. The standards are measured by measurable elements, 1,199 for the hospitals and 565 for the ambulatory care. The chapters, standards and the measurable elements cover the entire spectrum of patient safety, quality of care, governance and facility management over a period of five days. Measurable elements are scored as, Met, Partially Met and Non-Met.
Any facility that is accredited by JCI needs to meet the following criteria;
- The organisation demonstrates acceptable compliance with each standard. Acceptable compliance is:
- A score of at least “5” on each standard.
- The organisation demonstrates acceptable compliance with the standards in each chapter. Acceptable compliance is:
- An aggregate score of at least “9” for each chapter of standards.
- The organisation demonstrates overall acceptable compliance. Acceptable compliance is:
- An aggregate score of at least “9.8” on all standards.
- The total number of measurable elements found to be “Not Met” or “Partially Met” is not above the mean (three or more standard deviations) for organisations surveyed under the hospital accreditation
- No measurable element in the International Patient Safety Goals (IPSGs) is scored “Not Met”.
