The Impact of ISO Certification of Healthcare Services on Complaints and Litigation—A Children’s Hospital’s Perspective

Abstract

Background: Gertrude's Children's Hospital is the longest established paediatric hospital in East and Central Africa. It admits over 6,000 patients annually and attends to over 300,000 outpatients through twelve outpatient facilities. The high exposure due to large patient numbers coupled with variation in practice by a large pool of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers poses a high risk for adverse events, client complaints, and litigation. The hospital was ISO 9001: 2000 certified in 2008, recertified in 2011 and in 2014 in order to standardize practice and therefore mitigate against this risk. Objective: To establish the impact of ISO certification of healthcare services on complaints and litigation at the Gertrude's Children's Hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective study, through a review of hospital records covering medical legal issues over a period between 2001 and 2013. Results: The study revealed that after ISO certification in 2008, there was a 47.4% decline in complaints, 65% increase in adverse events reported. While the number of litigations was low throughout the period there was a drop to zero in the last two years of the review period. Conclusion: While a number of positive benefits have been linked to accreditation, there is more need for research in this area. Continued, empirical and evidence-based research on accreditation is important as questions continue to be raised regarding the value and impact of accreditation, not only in healthcare but also in a diverse range of fields.