Development of the Integrated Hospital-Based Food Safety Program in Lampang

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the process of and evaluate the integrated hospital-based food safety program in Lampang. Methods: This study was an embedded health service research project which incorporated development and research activities during the fiscal years (FY) of 2019-2022. The research was conducted in 13 hospitals under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Health in Lampang. Integrated development included the development of operational criteria for the hospital-based food safety program (the Criteria), implementation of the program, and research activities, alternatively. The main activities were as follows: 1) implementation of development activities on the hospital-based food safety program to practice, 2) periodic development of operations, 3) evaluative research, 4) adjustments of operations and development activities, and 5) continuous development of the hospital-based food safety program. The study collected the data on the performance according to the Criteria, context, inputs and processes involved in the implementation of the Criteria, through focus group discussion and questionnaire from 63 health professionals who were involved in the program. Results: Development activities were divided into three phases. Phase I (FY 2019-2020) concerned the integration of provincial strategic issue on sugar and salt reduction with hospital-based food safety program, and the change of operation, monitoring and reporting. In Phase II (FY 2021), 19 criteria were added to the existing list of the Ministry of Public Health criteria and 6 criteria were assigned as critical defect criteria. In Phase III (FY 2022), a new set of criteria was expanded to encompass food safety in schools, areas surrounding schools, and child care centers. The program evaluation revealed that performance of 10 and 3 hospitals was rated as excellent and very good, respectively. The context, inputs and processes of program implementation were rated as good. Integrated management strategy and the Criteria were well accepted by most of health professionals. Conclusion: Continuous developments of the integrated hospital-based food safety program, and enabling contexts, inputs, and processes facilitated all hospitals to meet the Criteria at the desirable level.