Delivering Quality Health Services: A Global Imperative for Universal Health Coverage is a 2018 joint report by WHO, the OECD and the World Bank. It argues that expanding healthcare access is insufficient unless services are also safe, effective and people-centred.
Key insights:
Quality care should be effective, safe, timely, equitable, integrated, efficient and responsive to people’s needs.
Poor-quality care harms patients, wastes resources and weakens trust in health systems.
Around 15% of hospital spending in high-income countries is used to address preventable complications and patient harm.
High-quality systems require trained health workers, equipped facilities, safe medicines, reliable information systems and appropriate financing.
Strong primary care should coordinate services across hospitals, specialists, social services and communities.
Patients and communities should participate in designing, evaluating and improving health services.
Governments need national quality strategies, clear standards, performance measurement and continuous improvement systems.
