For the second consecutive year, the IHH Quality Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur, on 11 October. Joining us were more than 400 delegates from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, India, China, Hong Kong, International Medical University, Acibadem and Fortis Healthcare.

Together, we embraced the theme of Innovation Reinvigorates Quality.

The day began with a leadership workshop in the morning led by Dr Kathryn Leonhardt from Joint Commission International. Focussing on leaders being change agents for the company, the session provided the opportunity for participants to connect to the subject on a personal level. Discussions were plentiful as participants actively wanted to find ways to improve themselves.

Then came the main summit in the afternoon. Anticipation was high among the delegates and rose further after an extensive presentation by Dr Kathryn on innovation and its potential in transforming quality. Following that, presenters from the different markets showcased their best quality improvement projects, all of which received rousing applause.

Next was the highlight of the summit, the IHH Patient Safety Award. Attendees eagerly awaited the announcement on the "best catch" - incidences which were picked up by staff as 'not right' and would have led to patient harm had they not been corrected.

Loud cheers filled the theatre as Nor Safiza from Pantai Hospital Ipoh was announced as the winner. Her alertness in noticing the prescription of double sedatives and assertiveness for the doctor to attend to the patient saved the patient from cardio-respiratory collapse.

In second place was Revillame Joel Balan from Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, who corrected a site marking and prevented a wrong site surgery. In third place was Nur Syakirin from Pantai Hospital Manjung, who identified a patient on an anti-platelet drug and had the surgery delayed, preventing a serious intra-operative complication.

In line with the theme of innovation and the paper plane being selected to depict - where innovative ways of folding the paper can result in the plane flying higher and further - all attendees launched their paper planes at the end of the summit to mark their commitment towards innovation to make care safer, more effective and more patient-centric.

The evening ended with a sumptuous buffet dinner with live entertainment and lucky draw prizes. It was yet another successful IHH Quality Summit held in Kuala Lumpur.