Using the accreditation journey to achieve global impact: UHN's experience at the Kuwait Cancer Control Center

On January 1, 2011, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PM) - University Health Network (UHN) began a five-year partnership agreement with the Kuwait Ministry of Health's Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC) to enhance cancer care services. Over the course of the partnership, opportunities for improvement were identified by UHN experts in order to accelerate KCCC's development toward subspecialty cancer care. Many of these opportunities involved building a robust infrastructure to support foundational hospital operation processes and procedures. Harnessing UHN's own successes in accreditation, the partnership took advantage of the national accreditation mandate in Kuwait to initiate a quality program and drive clinical improvement at KCCC. This resulted in improved staff engagement, better awareness and alignment of administration with clinical management and a stronger patient safety culture. This article discusses the successes and lessons learned at KCCC that may provide insight to healthcare providers implementing Accreditation Canada International's accreditation framework in other countries and cultures.