The Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) plans to introduce a quality assessment system for accident and emergency departments that will tie funding to patient satisfaction and waiting times.
The new framework, which applies to all A&E departments under the national health system (GHS), includes seven quality criteria and will require mandatory staffing by specific medical specialists.
“After more than a year of private A&E departments operating within GHS, it’s logical for the organisation to implement improvements where needed,” HIO senior official Monica Kyriacou told Phileleftheros.
The assessment will measure patient waiting times from registration to discharge, triage response times, and ambulance handover delays. Hospitals must also ensure their triage staff complete mandatory training from approved educational bodies.
Under the new requirements, A&E departments must maintain 24-hour coverage by specialists in internal medicine, cardiology, general surgery, orthopaedics, and radiology. Daily availability of at least one neurologist, paediatrician, intensive care specialist, or interventional radiologist will also become mandatory.
HIO will evaluate results every six months to determine hospital compensation rates. Patients will receive questionnaires to rate their experience, similar to the existing inpatient feedback system.
The proposal is currently under discussion with stakeholders before final implementation, officials said.
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