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National Health Act, 2003 (Act No. 61 of 2003)

Notices

National Health Insurance Policy towards Universal Health Coverage

Chapter 8 : Purchasing of Health Services

8.3 Treatment Guidelines

 

284. An extensive set of treatment guidelinesn already exists within the public health sector, in the form of the ‘Standard Treatment Guidelines’ associated with the Essential Medicine List (EML).

There are three main sets of EML guidelines:

a) Guidelines for primary health care services, which are targeted mainly at nurse prescribers but also medical officers;
b) Guidelines for adult care at district and regional hospitals (combined), which are targeted at medical officers and specialists (excluding sub-specialties and oncology); and
c) Guidelines for paediatric care at district and regional hospitals, targeted at medical officers and specialists (excluding sub-specialties and oncology). Guidelines for highly specialised services are in existence even though they are still simply brief reviews of the international evidence.

 

285. The NHI Fund will establish Clinical Peer Review Committees with transparent and accountable processes to mitigate the potential impact of perceived inflexibility of treatment guidelines by clinicians. This will be applicable in the management of complications and/or co-morbidities. There should also be room for flexibility in the context of local circumstances (e.g. it may not be feasible to discharge a particular patient due to lack of community level care support and no family members to provide support).

 

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n The way in which guidelines are developed, implemented and monitored, influences the likelihood that they will be followed. Trustworthy guidelines should be based on a systematic evidence review, developed by panel of multidisciplinary experts, provide a clear explanation of the logical relationships between alternative care options and health outcomes, and provide ratings of both the quality of evidence and the strength of the recommendations