The next in the series of action briefs on health care accreditation published by the World Health Organization (WHO) comes from the Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC), Jordan. The Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC) was established in 2007 as an independent non-profit organisation, dedicated to leading quality improvement in Jordan and the Eastern Mediterranean region, and upholding patient needs, ethics and best practices.

HCAC promotes quality improvement and advances patient safety through its experience in designing and implementing evidence-based standards and quality improvement programmes which address processes, procedures, organisational performance and human resource qualifications among other aspects.

HCAC is the only national health care accreditation body in Jordan. However, accreditation services are also provided in Jordan by other international accreditation bodies that are accredited by ISQua EEA. HCAC was the first organisation in the Eastern Mediterranean region to be accredited by ISQua EEA for its standards, for its surveyor preparation and certification programme, and for the organisation itself.

In the action brief, HCAC describe the range of standards and accreditation programmes that they have developed and delivered since their establishment in 2007 and the type of services and facilities that they have accredited. In 2019 HCAC began collecting baseline data on the level of compliance with the HCAC hospital accreditation standards in a group of hospitals. The initial assessment showed that only 14% of the standards were met.

In their action brief they present the initial and final assessments of the hospitals’ compliance with the HCAC standards which showed a significant increase in compliance. The analysis also includes an assessment of the aspects in each standards area which was reported to be most influenced and improved by accreditation.

The action brief also outlines the challenges from HCAC’s perspective as a national health care accreditation organisation in implementing accreditation and the actions undertaken by HCAC to address these. The full action brief may be accessed HERE