The Governing Council of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) is taking steps to establish a Clinical Governance Committee as part of measures to ensure quality care and safety of patients in health facilities.
Dr Sefa Sarpong Bediako, Chairman of the Governing Council of the GHS who disclosed this, said the new committee, to be one of the standing committees of the council would help strengthen clinical governance in the Service.
Speaking at an orientation and capacity-building workshop for newly appointed Medical Superintendents in Kumasi, Dr Bediako said the core business of the GHS was caring for patients, hence the need to prioritise clinical governance to provide the best care to patients.
The three-day workshop sought to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge and understanding of their new roles to function effectively in the interest of quality health care in their respective facilities.
“In accordance with Section nine of the enabling Act 505, the Council has decided to establish the Clinical Governance Committee as one of its standing committees,” he announced.
He said the Committee would review and ensure that adequate clinical, quality and safety practices and systems were put in place to improve the standard of care in all facilities.
He entreated the newly appointed Medical Superintendents to live up to expectations by working closely with all relevant stakeholders in their districts to improve healthcare delivery.
Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, the Director General of the GHS in a speech read on his behalf, said Medical Superintendents had the additional responsibility of overseeing the public health unit of their facilities aside from their core mandate of ensuring quality clinical services.
He charged them to be interested in the public health units of their facilities, saying that “any Medical Superintendent who neglects his or her public health unit in this era of emerging and re-emerging illnesses is doing the people of Ghana a great disservice.
“They must be interested in disease surveillance which starts in the consulting rooms and must make their facilities ready to detect epidemic-prone diseases and rapidly and appropriately respond to it,” he advised.
The Director General counselled Medical Superintendents to have a good working relationship with their respective Metropolitan, Municipal and District Directors of Health Services and support the District Health Management Teams fully for a healthy district.
He underlined the need for Medical Superintendents to provide technical support to lower health facilities including health centres and Community Health and Planning Services (CHPS) compounds within their catchment areas in collaboration with their District Directors of Health Services.
“These responsibilities demonstrate the important roles of the Medical Superintendent in the pursuit of the mission of the Service. The position is at the heart of the GHS as the conducts, actions, and inactions of the holder of the position directly affect the fortunes of the Service either positively or negatively,” he observed.
