Improving the efficiency of primary healthcare facilities

At the meeting, primary care managers discussed effective models of facility management that enable the implementation of best practices in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention (primary and secondary) of noncommunicable diseases.

The event was attended by heads of primary healthcare centers, primary healthcare doctors fromthe project's pilot oblasts (Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Rivne, Kherson, and Lviv oblasts), as well as from other oblasts of Ukraine, experts from the Medical Leaders NGO, regional trainers, and experts from the «Act for Health» project.

These were extremely intense and productive two days, as the experts managed to:

• familiarize themselves with the results of the assessment of primary care facilities in the project's pilot communities regarding the availability of services related to the management of hypertension and diabetes mellitus;
• familiarize themselves with the challenges and open questions related to the diagnosis and treatment of NCDs and the prevention of complications;
• discuss the main processes in primary healthcare centers related to NCD management (staff training, distribution of staff responsibilities, processes of interaction with patients and other links in the community healthcare chain);
• collect practical examples of the implementation of NCD prevention and treatment tools in routine practice, based on the recommendations of PEN protocols;
• develop ways to increase patient adherence to screening, diagnosis, and effective treatment of NCDs in communities;
• identify potential quality indicators at the primary care level for NCD management and much more.

All the findings of the meeting will be used to develop a methodological guide for primary care facility managers. This will help to introduce an optimal patient-oriented management model in the facility, aimed at improving the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention (primary and secondary) of non-communicable diseases.