The National Quality Assurance Programme Secretariat, Ministry of Health Malaysia

Terms of Reference

The Secretariat is directly responsible to the Ministry of Health Steering Committee for Quality Assurance Programme. The Secretariat working with other Quality Assurance / Improvement (QA/QI) Committees, particular with the QA Technical Committee shall:

Serve as the national coordinating body for the technical development of QA/QI. Specifically, it will provide a greater role in the development, application and dissemination of approaches, methods and tools for QA/QI. The coordination of the various activities will be established through regular meetings with the various QA committees and providing input to the National Steering Committee for QAP.
Conduct relevant QA/QI research, based on national priorities; propose and participate in collaborative studies, within and outside the country, and supports dissemination and application of research results.
Support integration of QA/QI into the managerial process for improving health policy and system development, performance and accountability, by assisting the Technical Working Committee for QA monitor the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Quality in Health.
Plan and develop training programmes to support capacity building in QA/QI and their institutionalisation.
Identify and disseminate best practices in QA/QI and facilitates access to bibliographical resources.

Function

The Institute will also provide the secretariat services to support the development of the Quality Assurance Programme in the country. This will be in accordance to the decision of the National Steering Committee for QA to identify the Institute as the National QA Secretariat.

The functions of the secretariat are:

To serve as the national coordinating body for the development of Quality Assurance and Improvement (QA/QI)
To carry out relevant research, based on national priorities, to propose and participate in multi-national collaborating studies; and to support dissemination and application of research results,
To support integration of QA/QI into the managerial process for improving health policy and system development, performance and accountability,
To provide technical support for capacity building in QA/QI
To identify and disseminate best practice in QA/QI, support the development and application of relevant tools, approaches and methodologies, and to facilitate access to bibliographical resources
To transfer the above-mentioned experiences and expertise at inter-country, regional and global levels, and contribute to methodological developments in these areas through participation in and organisation of meetings, panels of experts and advisory groups, providing consultancy, and international networking.