The news is already known, but formal confirmation has now come, in the form of a letter and with a very special compliment. Hospital da Luz Lisboa (HLL) has received full accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), which this time also included the academic clinical area, making HLL the only Portuguese university hospital with the gold seal of this international auditing institution. In the letter sent to the Board of Directors of Hospital da Luz Lisboa, JCI Vice President Andrew Rosen writes: “It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the decision to grant your organization Joint Commission International Accreditation. Congratulations to all those responsible and the entire Hospital team for having obtained this recognition and for their commitment to providing quality healthcare.” The special praise comes next: “Portuguese citizens should be proud that their organization is focused on this very challenging goal – to continually raise quality and patient safety to ever higher levels.” And Andrew Rosen ends the letter by renewing his congratulations “on this very significant achievement.” Full JCI accreditation was obtained, for the third consecutive time, in October 2024, after a team of international JCI auditors confirmed that the largest unit of the Luz Saúde group meets the highest standards of quality and safety in the provision of health care. health to patients. The assessment focused on around 1300 clinical and non-clinical parameters, with the Hospital having complied with all the quality and safety indicators pre-defined by that independent auditing institution. This time, the JCI audit also included the entire clinical academic area, within which the Hospital's pre- and post-graduate medical training activity is developed. The team of auditors confirmed 100% compliance with the highest international standards in Medical Education and Clinical Research and awarded full accreditation to the processes and work carried out in this area by Hospital da Luz. For Isabel Vaz, CEO of Luz Saúde, this was the confirmation of Hospital da Luz Lisboa as a “center of clinical excellence” , where “clinical practice, teaching and research are perfectly integrated, promoting a robust culture of medical education with a focus on in the quality and safety of health care provided to patients”. José Varela Gonçalves, Quality Director at Luz Saúde and responsible for the internal preparation of the entire JCI audit process, said at the time that “Hospital da Luz Lisboa has fulfilled, for the third time, the major objective of quality and patient safety – accreditation by JCI - for another 3 years. This gold seal is due to the excellent performance of our healthcare professionals, who have demonstrated, in a sublime and passionate way, that everything we do in our Hospital is for the best quality and safety of our patients.” Hospital da Luz Lisboa obtained full accreditation by JCI for the first time in 2018. The gold seal from this world-renowned international auditor was awarded again in 2021, and now the JCI team of auditors is expected to return to HLL in 2027. JCI is a world leader in accreditation of quality and safety in the provision of health care, imposing rigorous and demanding criteria on the health care providers it audits. Being accredited by JCI means belonging to a select group of hospitals, around the world, that offers its patients the most demanding standards of quality and safety.
