Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Health Services Company, (SEHA), the UAE’s largest healthcare network, has won the 7th International Best Practice Competition for their COVID-19 Drive-Through Screening Centers project, managed by Ambulatory Health Services (AHS), part of the SEHA network.

The competition, organized by Business Performance Improvement Resource (BPIR) and the Centre for Organizational Excellence Research, and held in partnership with the Abu Dhabi International Center for Organizational Excellence, Abu Dhabi Chamber, and the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award, saw the participation of 68 projects from nine countries.

All projects participating in the competition were evaluated against four criteria. These include Level of Deployment (evaluates the design and implementation of the project and the impact it has on customers), Level of innovation (evaluating whether the project was a new practice or one that was gradually improved over time and how it impacted process, products or services), Results achieved (impact on practice/customers/services), and whether the project is best practice adapted by other organizations or benchmarked against other similar practices

Mohamed Hawas Al Sadid, Ambulatory Healthcare Services CEO, said “We are proud to be selected as the winners of the 7th International Best Practice Competition for the drive-through screening centers project. We are also delighted to have three more projects, all related to our efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, shortlisted among the top best practices. This is a true testament to our wise leadership’s support of healthcare organizations during the pandemic and is a reflection of SEHA’s unwavering commitment to implementing operational and managerial best practices to enhance the quality of services provided to our community.”

 “We are particularly pleased with our ability to maintain the highest levels of safety and infection control throughout all of our initiatives on the frontline, for both the community and our colleagues on the frontlines, amidst short timeframes and increased pressure. Thanks to our position on the forefront, our successful model continues to be replicated across the UAE, the region, and internationally, as we continuously strive to share our best practices with our healthcare partners,” continued Al Sadid.

Dr. Marwan Al Kaabi, Acting Group Chief Operations Officer, said: “SEHA’s COVID-19 drive-through screening centers played a central role in the UAE’s fight against the pandemic, with the approach of regular and mass testing shaping our successful strategy and contributing to Abu Dhabi’s recent recognition as the leading city worldwide in its response to the pandemic. Thanks to the direction and commitment of the UAE’s leadership, in addition to the diligence of our colleagues at AHS, we were able to significantly increase testing capacity in record time to quickly identify those who contracted the virus, test those who had come into contact with them, and limit the spread of COVID-19.”

In addition to the success of the network’s COVID-19 Drive-Through Centers, SEHA’s COVID-19 Prime Assessment Centers project and the COVID-19 Vaccination Drive-Through project, both of which are managed by AHS, received a 7-star rating, the highest rating in the International Best Practice Competition’s Best Practice Certification Scheme. The AHS Recovery project, which centered on AHS’s strategy to maintain safety throughout the pandemic for non-COVID-19 patients to continue seeking consultation for ongoing medical needs, also received a 5-star rating.

During the evaluation process, the AHS-led projects underwent three rounds of assessments, beginning with documenting best practices, followed by presenting them online to the judges. During the final round, the 12 finalist projects presented once more to a panel of judges.