ISO 9001:2015 Certification as our seal of approval for service quality

On the 27th of May 2021 Hanoi French Hospital continued to be certified to ISO 9001:2015 by QUACERT for a period of incoming three years. This certification is not only the recognition of our continued efforts to consistently offer dedicated and efficient services to our customers but also “our seal of approval” for service quality.

This certification plays an important role with us as well as our customers at this time. Over the past weeks, new community infections for COVID-19 were recorded in Vietnam, including in Hanoi. At Hanoi French Hospital we are committed to keeping our patients, staff and visitors safe so we can continue the care for our patients and provide high quality medical services in the safest possible circumstances. As such we always apply all instructions and guidelines of the competent public authorities.

Previously, Ministry of Health has issued a 150-point readiness plan and requires that hospitals to meet at least 75%. HFH has a comprehensive plan in place to meet a maximum of these criteria. On April 13th 2021, Hanoi Department of Health audited Hanoi French Hospital on COVID-19 safety and readiness. The audit confirmed that our hospital meets most criteria, certifying that HFH is indeed up-to-date in terms of COVID-19 safety and preparedness.

An effective quality management system with ISO 9001:2015

The world’s management legend Peter Drucker has described healthcare organizations as “the most complex systems ever designed by man”. To those working within these structures, this observation comes as no surprise. Multiple stakeholders, cross-functional services, cutting-edge technologies and highly skilled workers work in a coordinated fashion to jointly add value to improve health of our patients who are of the most sophisticated and complicated creature on earth. That maybe the reason for a level of hesitation in making decision to apply a standard for quality management system in hospitals.

Considering that fact, it is very proud that Hanoi French Hospital is one of a few hospitals in Vietnam who began implementing quality management system in compliance with ISO 9001 as early as in the middle of 2000s. Over nearly 20 years till now, implementation of quality management in line with ISO 9001 has brought about significant results, contributing to the establishment and maintenance of Hanoi French Hospital brand.

Premise for successful development of the culture "for customer satisfaction"

At the initial stage of implementation of ISO 9001 requirements, we determined a vision to become the preferred healthcare facility for customers in Vietnam with the policy of "developing integrated healthcare”. “Integrated healthcare” was a new concept being introduced for the first time to clients as well our staff at the time. Following ISO 9001 principles and requirements, inputs, processes and their interactions with control patterns and indicators, stakeholders and coordination structures, required resources and actions for identified risks of clinical, subclinical and auxiliary sections are fully specified in our bylaws which highlights the focus on customer satisfaction towards our services.

As a part of those bylaws, internal standards of medical and nursing practices constitutes the key role, identifying core values ​​and properties of our service. As a result of the combination of Western and Vietnamese expertise in advanced medical and nursing knowledge and practice, these standards formed a foundation for international standard practice of our multi-national team. In light of ISO 9001, follow-up activities to ensure consistency of practice with the standards and practice among employees have been taking place and gradually turn international standards of healthcare with its core values ​​into our culture. That culture is expressed in all the time in the professionalism, dedication and understanding of our nurses, doctors and auxiliary staff that every customer can feel when experiencing our healthcare services.

It can be said that, by applying the quality management principles of ISO 9001 and implementing activities required by this Standard, our Hospital has successfully built “integrated healthcare” model to ensure satisfaction of customers and become a typical property of the brand "Hanoi French Hospital".

Contribute to ensuring patient safety

Like all other healthcare facilities, ensuring patients’ safety is our top priority. Due to the nature of health care, risks always exist. For that reasons, “risk-based thinking” required of ISO 9001 is perfectly matched for quality management in healthcare organizations. Our risk management starts from the simple activity like ensuring a scientific and orderly arrangement in the workplace by applying 5S method from the early 2000s.

In addition, in compliance with ISO 9001 requirements as well as regulations of Ministry of Health, recommendations from WHO and other prestigious agencies, risk assessments are conducted for activities directly related to patient safety such as high-risk procedures, handover of patients, preoperative patient checks, etc.

Moreover, complying with “process approach” principle of the Standard, risk assessment is also performed to processes. Risks are identified in order to devise appropriate corrective action for implementation. Thanks to the combination of several integrated measures, the safety of our patients no longer merely depends on performance of an individual staff or group, but has been guaranteed to be stably ensured throughout the entire processes of service. This also shows efficacy of the Standard’s guiding role to our system.

Continuous improvement

To many people ISO 9001 is purely about compliance, i.e. we do what we specify, and vice versa. However, implementing quality management according to this Standard at our hospital does not as such simple. The effectiveness of internal audits provides persuasive evidences to that. One of the key targets of regular and random audit is compliance assessment. But there is an interesting fact that most of the results we obtain after audits are ideas for improvement, the suggestions to help us make customers more satisfied, perform work more efficiently and more conveniently.

Besides, to meet ISO 9001 requirements on continuous improvement, our hospital regularly coordinates with local and foreign organizations and utilize the consultation of prestigious experts of Vietnam and other countries such as Japan, Malaysia, Singapore to run improvement projects. Through those projects, improvement methods such as Lean, Kaizen, Six Sigma, which are embraced by quality management philosophies and principles, are well practiced by our team, taking part in enhancing the effectiveness and promoting performance of quality management system. Our team obtained some awards for our improvement from local and abroad organizations.

It can be concluded that implementation of quality management system according to the principles and requirements of ISO 9001 is one of the key players in ensuring our strong performance as a health care service provider, helping our hospital maintain our position as one of the leading choices for healthcare in Vietnam.