NCCCR Celebrates 10th Anniversary and Launches Experience App

Doha, September 17 (QNA) - Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR) commemorated its tenth anniversary of caring for cancer and hematology patients with a celebration for patients and staff. The event featured the launch of a new initiative for gauging patient engagement and experience. The new program, called "Putting Patients First", aims to ensure that patients always remain at the center of healthcare delivery at the hospital. As part of this initiative, an interactive patient experience app was also launched. This application aims to measure the quality of the patient experience in the hospital in real time, which will enable action to be taken quickly from the results received. The 10 year anniversary celebration was held at the hospital and included presentations from Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham; Dr Al Hareth Al Khater, Senior Consultant and Assistant Chairman of Hematology and Oncology for NCCCR; Professor Karl Alexander Knuth, Medical Director of NCCCR and Chairman of Cancer Services for HMC; and Lara Waywell, Executive Director of Operations for NCCCR. Lord Darzi's team of specialists at Imperial College London worked with HMC to develop the app with the needs of local patients in mind. It will be available on iPads installed in key areas within the hospital and will allow patients to rate the hospital on services such as the welcome they received from the staff, the level of staff responsiveness, the quality of healthcare received from their doctors and nurses, and how well their symptoms were managed during the visit, among other questions. Speaking at the event, Dr. Hanan Al Kuwari, PhD, Managing Director of HMC said: "Over the last ten years, NCCCR has played a pivotal role in transforming cancer care in Qatar and we at Hamad are proud of the achievements that have been made. Looking to the future, it is crucial that we understand more about what our patients need and want from us in order to provide them with the best possible experience." "To be truly patient-centered, we need to work in partnership with our patients. With the launch of this new app and the wider patient experience program, we will be able to gain constructive feedback from our patients, which will allow us to deliver the safest and most effective and compassionate care to them", Dr Al Kuwari added. David Astley, Tertiary Hospitals Group Chief at HMC expressed his gratitude towards the staff of NCCCR, both past and present, for their unwavering commitment to patient care. "This hospital is special for many reasons, one of which is that we get to build long term relationships with all our patients and support them throughout their cancer journey. This is something that is unique to healthcare services that care for patients with long-term conditions, and puts us in a strong position to be able to better engage patients in the delivery of their care." He also spoke about the "Putting Patients First" initiative as a framework of values and behaviors amongst staff to ensure that patients are always their first priority. "It is important to make patients feel comfortable and well-cared for. This program will involve doctors and nurses identifying and introducing themselves to patients and their families and going the extra mile to give them the best experience possible. Every patient will know who their team of consultants and nurses are and they will be given a voice through regular interaction, such as the patient experience app launched today. This facilitates a real dialogue between patients and healthcare workers that is so important for the quality of care and the patient experience," he added. (QNA)