Eghospitals.com – community monitor of health services.
Thematic areas: Health
Country: Egypt
In Egypt, health services are delivered by a multitude of public service providers (the ministry of Health (MOH), ministries of Higher Education, Defense, the Interior, etc.), the Health Insurance Organization (HIO), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and an expanding network of private practitioners and medical facilities. Even though presence of multiple providers could imply competitive services, in reality, there is very limited or no performance assessment mechanisms or quality assurance. All proposed or attempted solutions for healthcare quality monitor were highly dependent on governments and authorities.
Solution: Eghospitals.com is a website that serves as a community monitor of health service provision in Egypt.
Goals and objectives: The aim of this project is to promote social accountability, informed decision-making and active citizenship, since all assessments are carried out by trained community members. To create sustainability community- based interventions for healthcare Shamseya for innovative community healthcare solutions, an Egyptian company established in 2012, developed Eghospitals.com.
Implementation: Included the following steps:
- A field research was conducted, resulting in the creation of a set patient-centered performance appraisal indicators and measures that were later compared to international standards and assembled in 116 standardized assessments criteria.
- Developed a smartphone assessment tool that accommodates these criteria and displays them to the assessor in a user friendly interface.
- 15 training sessions that yielded 165 active, trained community assessors.
Through this portal detailed information on service quality in Egyptian hospitals and other health facilities becomes accessible to the public. For each published score, three appraisals are carried out in parallel (by independent) community assessors. Also, website viewers are allowed to enter their personal feedback on the website or request that a specific hospital be assessed, both of which reduces the possibility of bias and encourages citizens to participate in promoting social accountability in the Egyptian context. The criteria, according to which assessments take place, were generated following extensive field research involving medical staff and patients, to ensure that important determinants of health service quality are covered. Finally, a document including the results is validated and approved by all local networks.
Achievements:
- 80 hospitals covered in different locations in Egypt, including Cairo, Giza, Matrouh,the Red Sea area, Aswan, Luxor, Qena, Sohag, Assiut, Minia.
- Designed and developed the online portal eghospitals.com displaying the assessment criteria and results to the public and a back-end interface for data entry.
- Designed and developed a mobile application Mostashfa Meter displaying the assessment results and providing extra services for mobile users including calling the closest hospital and ordering the closest ambulance to the user’s location
- Validated, analyzed and published 75 hospital profiles on the web portal.
- Active social media accounts with a sustained growth plan, displaying and promoting the website and the hospital assessment results.
- Partnered with 33 local NGOs in all the covered areas and governorates.
- Partnered with Consumer Protection Authority (CPA) as a national governmental partner.
- A field research was conducted, resulting in the creation of a set patient-centered performance appraisal indicators and measures that were later compared to international standards and assembled in 116 standardized assessments criteria.
- Active social media accounts with a sustained growth plan, displaying and promoting the website and the hospital assessment results.
Partners: Ashoka Arab World, the world Health Organization (WHO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Oxfam International – Participatory Eco-Camp on Achieving Universal Health Coverage Locally.
Website: www.shamseya.com