Table 8. Quality improvement (QI) strategies as applied in European hospitals: external assessment, schemes and programmes; total and per country*, numbers are positive responses in valid percentages (total item response in absolute numbers).
| Specification of QI strategy | Total | Ireland | Belgium | France | Spain | Poland | Czech Republic |
| (Part of) hospital previously externally assessed | 88.0 (351) | 100 (23) | 95.8 (24) | 96.9 (65) | 85.8 (106) | 82.9 (76) | 71.8 (39) |
| External assessment by: | |||||||
| Accreditation institute | 59.4 (323) | 90.9 (22) | 20.8 (24) | 93.7 (63) | 64.8 (88) | 35.5 (76) | 29.4 (34) |
| Certification institute | 49.4 (314) | 60.0 (20) | 41.7 (24) | 23.3 (60) | 63.6 (88) | 48.6 (72) | 48.6 (37) |
| Patient/consumer organisation | 18.5 (297) | 33.3 (18) | 34.8 (23) | 3.4 (58) | 5.3 (76) | 18.9 (74) | 36.4 (33) |
| Inspection | 66.0 (318) | 80.0 (20) | 83.3 (24) | 55.9 (59) | 65.9 (91) | 76.0 (75) | 28.1 (32) |
| Public disclosure of assessment results | 52.9 (331) | 60.9 (23) | 33.3 (24) | 92.3 (65) | 19.8 (91) | 50.6 (77) | 67.6 (34) |
| Previous external assessment of laboratories: | |||||||
| Clinical chemistry laboratory | 68.6 (303) | 57.1 (21) | 76.2 (21) | 65.2 (46) | 59.4 (96) | 70.8 (65) | 81.6 (38) |
| Pathology laboratory | 38.7 (261) | 60.9 (23) | 19.0 (21) | 50.0 (28) | 34.8 (92) | 28.6 (49) | 35.3 (34) |
| Microbiology laboratory | 58.7 (283) | 65.0 (20) | 71.4 (21) | 60.5 (43) | 48.4 (93) | 68.3 (60) | 50.0 (32) |
| Pharmacy laboratory | 54.6 (302) | 72.7 (22) | 59.1 (22) | 65.5 (58) | 39.6 (91) | 62.9 (62) | 39.4 (33) |
| Diagnostic radiology laboratory | 56.8 (294) | 85.0 (20) | 60.0 (20) | 61.2 (49) | 47.3 (93) | 56.5 (62) | 60.0 (35) |
*The results for the UK and the Netherlands are included in the total but not listed separately, due to the very low response rates.