Improving quality of care is one of the priorities of the Ghanaian health sector and a number of initiatives have been put in place to achieve this goal, however, progress has been slow. The study, Assessment of quality care for children in selected hospitals in Ghana, was carried out as part of the Better Medicine for Children project in Ghana. Its purpose was to:

• assess the quality of paediatric care provided to children less than five years of age in selected hospitals by comparing aspects of paediatric care provided in these hospitals with prescribed standards of care;
• make recommendations for those facilities that were assessed to improve the gaps identified that fall within their mandate;
• make recommendations to guide national adaptation of guidelines to improve the quality of paediatric care in hospitals.

The assessment was carried out in 10 hospitals made up of one specialized children’s hospital, two regional hospitals and seven government district hospitals, including one faithbased (mission) hospital.

The WHO product, Assessment of the quality of care for children in hospitals: A generic assessment tool, was adapted by a group of experts using local standards and the WHO Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Children. A team of experienced health workers was trained on the use of the tools. The team then pre‐tested these tools, which were used to collect information from the selected hospitals...