The Caribbean Prevention Center is delighted to have started a five-year quality project with the appointment of the Quality Manager, Dr. Soraya Verstraeten, in November 2021. The goal of the project is to implement internationally recognized standards that ensure that the services meet the needs of clients through an effective quality management system.

The Caribbean Prevention Center’s decision to work towards a quality management system demonstrates the commitment to continually improve their services. As part of the project, the CPC will undergo several extensive baseline assessments of each screening program, from the invitations to participate in the test to the diagnostics and referrals.
To guide the plan of action, dr. Verstraeten spoke to colleagues at the CPC, Ms. Freeja Reijntjes-Oldenburger (quality officer from the Netherlands) and Ms. Natasha Phelipa (manager quality, safety and innovation at the Curaçao Medical Center). Ms. Freeja Reijntjes-Oldenburger, who has extensive experience in auditing quality management systems for cancer screening programs in the Netherlands, will support dr. Verstraeten with the implementation of quality management system for colon cancer screening during the first year of the project. To this end, she conducted a baseline assessment of the colon cancer screening program in May 2022, which evaluated if certain aspects of this program attained Dutch implementation standards and criteria. The results contribute to knowing where the program is going well, and where there
could be improvements. The aim of these assessments is to achieve quality improvement and to improve outcomes for patients.

The full implementation of the quality project is expected to take five years and is expected to result in a documented quality management system. The system is based on several quality management principles, such as a strong customer focus, involvement of the management, a process approach and ongoing improvement of the process, and will provide additional assurance to our clients that we are focused on continuous improvement of our services and client satisfaction.