The Fourth Dimension met Dr. Stefan Larsson during the 2nd Meeting of the Minds on Quality of Care that took place in Athens Greece in December 2024. We discussed how measuring outcomes that matter is necessary for the transformation of health systems including improving the person-centeredness dimension of quality of care.

Dr Larsson is the main author of the book The Patient Priority: Solve Health Care's Value Crisis by Measuring and Delivering Outcomes That Matter to Patients (2022).

One of the most important dimensions of Quality of Care is person-centredness. A word that is broadly used but not thoroughly discussed as to what it should look like. On this episode we discuss with two young members of the WHO pan-European Mental Health Coalition, Inês Mália Sarmento and Dion Ras, and with Dr Jen Hall, WHO technical officer for mental health, what active participation looks like and how health policies can be improved through co-creation.

Quality of care and public health are interlinked in many ways, most importantly in terms of how efficiency, effectiveness, efficacy, equity and person centredness have a central role in both. Health care is a significant aspect of public health and improving the quality of care has a profound impact on population health. Policy makers can adopt quality improvement methods for public health, whereas quality of care can expand outside the facility walls. 

Find out more:

https://www.who.int/europe/activities/improving-quality-of-primary-health-care-for-children-and-adolescents

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/03-01-2024-enhancing-health-systems-capacities-in-the-who-european-region

https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/events/item/2023/10/23/default-calendar/first-who-autumn-school-on-quality-of-care-and-patient-safety

Technology and digital tools have been shaping health care and the health sector in an exponential rate during the last few decades. Even more so they have shifted the perception of what health care can be. As with many other aspects in public health and health care the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process and placed the critical role of digital health in the limelight, however, disparities in digital transformation still do exist.

 In the third episode of The Fourth Dimension,we discuss with Dr Henrique Martinshow digital health can be a significant enabler to achieve health goals, improve quality of care, as well as promote and safeguard health equality. Also, we look into how the WHO Athens Office for Quality of Care and Patient Safety can support Member States and stakeholders towards achieving these goals.

The second episode of The Fourth Dimension looks into aspects of quality of care at the level of health systems and health sector. This episode’s guest Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of the Division of Country Health Polices and Systems at WHO Regional Office for Europe, sheds some light on how quality of care and patient safety can be found and improved across the whole spectrum of health care services - from hospital care to primary care and from rehabilitation services to nursing homes.

The concept of quality of care in health policy has been receiving increased attention over the last couple of decades.  The literature on quality of care has increased three-fold since the 1990s.  Most recently, quality of care is mentioned in the context of the sustainable development goals.  Despite this universal acceptance of its importance, however, there is not a common understanding of what quality of care actually is and what it entails, let alone what needs to be done to improve it.