SOFIHA
"SOFIHA" is an abbreviation standing the "Society for International Healthcare Accreditation" 1.
The society is a free-to-join non-profit organisation, based in the United Kingdom and dedicated to optimising patient safety and maximising the quality of hospitals through the appropriate use of international healthcare accreditation (see below). SOFIHA is also interested in the quality, content and objectives of the healthcare accreditation process.
International healthcare accreditation, or IHA, is a growing phenomenon in the world. IHA is one major way of ensuring patient safety wherever they enter a hospital, anywhere in the world, as IHA's remit is to assess hospitals against recognised standards of quality and to publicly state whether or not a particular hospital complies with those standards. IHA has become increasingly important in view of several factors, including:
- medical tourism
- infection control, and the spread of dangerous micro-organisms around the world
- legal issues around medicine (medico-legal)
- concern of governments for its citizens travelling overseas for any reason e.g. diplomats, military, vacationers etc.
Accordingly, not only hospitals but also patients and regulatory bodies have an interest in the activities of accreditation groups.
History
SOFIHA grew out of a recognition that there was a need for a group with an interest in the IHA process which encompassed both the consumers of IHA (the patients and the hospitals) and providers (the accreditation groups themselves), and engaged itself with the mutual needs of all parties.
SOFIHA is set to grow in importance as medical tourism/Global Healthcare continues to mushroom, and patient safety and the levels of risk carried by provider hospitals increasingly develop as issues of importance.