Dubai Health Authority issues standards for Day Surgical Centres 30-06-2019 Share

The Dubai Health Authority’s Health Regulation Sector has issued updated standards for Day Surgical Centres (DSC) in line with international best practices. The standards have been developed by the Health Policies and Standards Department within the DHA’s Health Regulation sector to enhance patient safety, satisfaction and experience and to ensure that all processes meet the highest international benchmarks. Dr Marwan Al Mulla, CEO of Health Regulation Sector announced that the standards fall under four major categories. They are: health facility, health professionals, service provision and, reporting and inspection. Al Mulla said that recently all DSC’s were mandated to ensure they are internationally accredited; this move will also lead to enhanced care. Currently, 97 per cent of all hospitals in Dubai are internationally accredited. The regulation for the first category, i.e. health facilities: DSC licensure will now be categorised into four categories (A, B, C-M and C). This means each type of DSC will have restrictions to the type of anesthesia/sedation medication it can hold and services it can provide. Only DSC category C can provide general anaesthesia. All DSC will only be allowed to treat healthy patients or patients with mild diseases and are required to have in place emergency transfer arrangements that are in line with Dubai ambulance emergency targets. All processes from pre-surgical assessments and tests to the surgery needs to be conducted in the same centre itself. Updated medications and emergency equipment should be fully available in case of an emergency. For the second category, health professionals, Al Mulla said that all health professionals at the Centre should be either consultants or specialists and centres under the B, C-M and C category should always have an anesthesiologist available and present during the surgery. All physicians and anesthetists (and nurses) engaged in surgery are required to have up-to-date hands on/practical Advanced Life Support or Cardiac Advanced Life Support or Peadiatrics Advanced Life Support Certification as per the scope of services and perform a minimum number of procedures per year to maintain competency in their field. Similarly, other categories have their own specific requirements. Al Mulla said that the Sector has developed 20 key performance indicators and the DSC’s will be evaluated against these benchmarks every three months. Al Mulla added that the standards are comprehensive and will lead to enhanced care and patient protection.