The theme for 2009. Quality indicators for the health services

 

In 2007, the Nordic Council of Ministers published the report Measuring Quality in the Health Services in the Nordic Countries. One of the recommendations in the report was that efforts should be made to make the quality of health services known. This should be done by NOMESCO continually publishing information about this.

This was discussed at NOMESCO’s annual plenary session. NOMESCO was postive to the recommendation, but meant that before they committed themselves to collecting quality indicators, this should first be done in one of the annual theme sections.

In the theme section, the following should be clarified:

 

• Which indicators should NOMESCO first committ itself to collect?
• NOMESCO should ensure that the Nordic countries use the same definitions
• NOMESCO should ensure that the Nordic countries use the same sources.
  

A reference group for this theme has now been appointed, with Anne-Marie Hansen from the National Indicator Project (NIP) as project leader.

The group held its first meeting on 6 October 2008 in Copenhagen. A description of the project and principles for analysis were discussed, and the indicators to be presented in 2009 were decided on.