European funds Related EU Grant Loans Programme(s):  Grants for research projects concerning the treatment of major diseases and the delivery of health care

A study funded to the tune of 3 million euros by the European Union will strengthen the quality and safety standards of European hospitals

The funding will help a research team develop both a best practice guide for hospitals and a framework for assessing how well they measure against these standards.

The Jönköping Academy for Improvement of Health and Welfare in Sweden is part of a six-member consortium involved in the project titled, 'Quality and safety in European Union hospitals: a research-based guide for implementing best practice and a framework for assessing performance'.

The project is funded by the Health theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). One of the main pillars of FP7's Health Work Programme is to deliver better healthcare to EU citizens by enhancing the quality, efficiency and solidarity of Europe's healthcare systems.

Findings from the 2001 publication, Hospitals in a changing Europe (edited by M. McKee and J. Healy), indicate that hospitals use between 40% and 70% of a country's healthcare budget. This means that roughly half of the total funds committed to keeping a nation's population healthy go directly to hospitals. Making sure that they perform well against certain quality and safety criteria is therefore essential.

Professor Gerd Ahlström, Dean of the School of Health Sciences in Jönköping, said that the EU-funded project is proof that quality and safety are gaining in importance, and that research and education have a role to play in contributing to future healthcare and social care.

The researchers will produce the two important documents (a guide for implementing best practice and a performance assessment framework), based on results from a series of 10 case studies into quality and safety improvement efforts. The findings will provide the European healthcare industry, specifically decision-makers, researchers, students and practitioners, with greater clarity concerning the systems currently in place and how effective they are in delivering optimum quality and safety.



The project is coordinated by King's College London in the UK, and participants include the Department of Health Policy and Management from Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and the Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality of Imperial College London in the UK.