Lagos sets up first state task force on patient safety

The Lagos State Government has inaugurated a 39-member Task Force on Clinical Governance and Patient Safety, becoming the first state in Nigeria to domesticate the national initiative aimed at raising standards of care and protecting patients across public and private health facilities.

Inaugurating the task force in Ikeja, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said Lagos could no longer focus its regulatory efforts mainly on government hospitals because private providers dominate the state’s health sector.

He said there was approximately a 10-to-one ratio of private to government health facilities, although public facilities account for up to 40 per cent of patient encounters.

“We are not the Ministry of Health for government facilities alone; we are the Ministry of Health for Lagos,” Abayomi said, stressing the need for a system-wide approach to clinical governance.

The commissioner called for stronger oversight of traditional medicine practitioners, patent medicine vendors and community pharmacies, particularly as task-shifting and task-sharing become increasingly important in addressing manpower shortages.

He said the new system should promote clinical audit, evidence-based medicine, digital tools and continuous professional development, while also protecting health workers from violence.

Abayomi identified fever management as a possible pilot, saying Lagos must move away from presumptive malaria treatment as the disease declines in the state.

“It is no longer appropriate to make a clinical diagnosis of malaria without appropriate testing,” he said.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Health and Chairman of the Task Force, Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi, said the body had three months to develop a Lagos State Clinical Governance and Patient Safety Framework.

She said the framework would establish minimum standards for facilities, incident reporting and learning, patient feedback and redress, as well as indicators for statewide implementation.

“Behind every incident report is a person who came to us for help,” Ogunyemi said.

According to her, the task force would work through seven pillars: leadership and governance, clinical effectiveness, risk management, patient and public involvement, clinical audit, staff development and management, and information management.

Ogunyemi said its broad membership, comprising government agencies, professional associations, private providers, civil society and subject-matter experts, was designed to ensure the framework works across Lagos’ complex health system.

She stressed that the initiative would not impose arbitrary standards but would use evidence to determine what is appropriate for the state.

“We are not seeking to dictate standards. We are using the best available evidence to determine what is appropriate for Lagos State and what will ensure that patients are safe,” she said.

Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dayo Lajide, described the initiative as timely and urged members to meet the three-month deadline.

Permanent Secretary, Health Service Commission, Dr. Olufemi Omololu, said clinical governance would consolidate existing quality-improvement initiatives, including Clinical Quality Improvement, Total Quality Management, 5S, and Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response.

He advocated a “no name, no blame” approach to encourage health workers to report failures and help develop solutions rather than fear punishment.

Technical Secretary of the Task Force, Dr. Tolu Ajomale, said the seven pillars would commence work immediately, with monthly plenary meetings to review progress.

The initiative is expected to transform Lagos’ fragmented quality-improvement efforts into a coordinated system that embeds patient safety, accountability, evidence-based care and continuous improvement across the state’s health sector.

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