During the first three years of the Quality Plan efforts have been focused on the promotion
of health, equity, clinical excellence, electronic medical records and information systems.
The approach used in all of these areas has been to work in conjunction with experts, the
autonomous communities, scientific societies, associations of patients and social
organisations, constantly seeking the agreement and active involvement of all parties.
This method has made it possible to reinforce the yearly Reports on the National Health
System, on Health and Gender and on Gender-Based Violence, and to implement the
Strategy for Attending Normal Births, and also strategies for the diseases of higher
prevalence or greater disability burden. Actions have also been undertaken to prevent the
onset of these diseases, along with projects aimed at improving eating habits, promoting
physical exercise and preventing domestic accidents. Patient safety and excellence in
clinical practice have also been areas of priority for the Quality Plan.
To prepare these strategies a number of studies, research projects and evaluations of
health technology have been necessary, to ensure that the information used was as
accurate as possible. Clinical Practice Guides have been written and online resources
with the best scientific evidence available have been set up for use by professionals.
All the strategies propose actions aimed at facilitating their implementation, such as
dissemination, training and project funding. All the strategies also contain provisions for
evaluation and updating, and in some of them such processes have already taken place.
Fruit of an agreement reached with over 30 scientific societies, patient associations and
experts from the autonomous communities and also of the investments of the Health
Online programme, is the project that seeks to establish Electronic Medical Records
in the National Health System. The project is already operating in two autonomous
communities and is expected to be extended to the rest of them next year.
The first three years of the Quality Plan have brought with them an information system
common to all of the autonomous communities as well as improvements to the existing information subsystems, which pertain to the large areas in the field of health: state of
health, the health care system and citizen satisfaction.
The Quality Plan has also led to the participation, and in some cases the leadership, of
the Spanish National Health System in forums, working groups, projects and meetings
held at the international level.