Amsterdam, 19 September 2019 – Quality in Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
On Thursday evening, the SIG Healthcare and Life Sciences were welcomed at the famous Netherlands Cancer Institute ”for more than 100 years at the international forefront of cancer research and treatment”. The stage was set in the impressive boardroom of the institute in which Michel Wouters, oncological surgeon and Martijn van Schaik, program manager care paths, laid out an equally impressive quest for quality improvement in the oncological care.
The audience listened with great attention to the story of leadership that was presented. At the turn of the century, there were no national quality data available in the Netherlands, making it de facto impossible to compare oncological care across the country. Motivated to improve the overall standards of treatment that patients would receive, the profession set up standards of care and national registries (SONCOS and DICA). These enabled quality improvement of which some astonishing examples were shown, but it also painfully revealed inequality in care delivered. Despite the many challenges, the movement continues into a new phase in which more data are becoming public. With the ultimate goal of quality to be governed through entire care paths including patient outcomes.
This insightful story from within the medical profession was the third event this year of the INSEAD SIG Healthcare & Life Sciences, organised by Thomas Calis & Cynthia de Leeuw.
