The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has granted the UK’s first accreditation for Improving Quality in Physiological diagnostic Services (IQIPS) to Action for Deafness for adult hearing services to the IQIPS standards.
Independent assessment and accreditation is a key part of the Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) IQIPS Programme which seeks to improve the quality of physiological diagnostic services nationally. The programme has been sponsored by Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health. It covers the range of physiological diagnostic specialisms which includes audiology, cardiac physiology, gastrointestinal physiology, neurophysiology, ophthalmic and vision science, respiratory and sleep physiology, urodynamics and vascular science. UKAS has been contracted to deliver the national assessment and accreditation service for all eight physiological diagnostic specialisms and is working closely with the RCP on a plan for the staged roll out of accreditation to each specialism.
Action for Deafness was founded as a charity, in 1994 by deaf people and for deaf people in West Sussex. It provides advice, support, information and services to enable deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deafblind people to lead independent lives. The organisation is core funded by West Sussex County Council and works in partnership with many other local and national organisations including NHS West Sussex. Action for Deafness has been granted accreditation for its adult hearing services for its sites Haywards Heath, Worthing and Steyning.
Paul Stennett, UKAS Chief Executive, said:
UKAS has shown it can support healthcare to effectively progress its quality agenda by delivering this innovative accreditation scheme based on standards developed by the professionals supported by the various physiological diagnostic specialisms and relevant stakeholders. I congratulate Action for Deafness on being the first organisation to achieve UKAS accreditation to these high standards. UKAS accreditation already underpins a wide range of diagnostic activities within the healthcare sector assuring the public about the quality of services that patients receive.
Dr Roland Valori, RCP Clinical Director for Accreditation, said:
I am delighted that Action for Deafness has achieved this accredited status. This is a significant milestone for the IQIPS programme and a reflection of the hard work of Dr Kerry Tinkler (Clinical lead for the programme) and the physiological diagnostics community. This validates the successful partnership between RCP and UKAS supporting quality improvement and recognising high quality physiological diagnostic services.
Jane Shaw, Action for Deafness Chief Executive commented:
Action for Deafness is looking forward to working with the new Clinical Commissioning Groups to continue to provide exemplary adult hearing services to NHS patients. The accreditation process was challenging, but provided a good opportunity to ensure that all our services, policies and procedures are compliant with the latest clinical, legal and regulatory standards and good practice. We were impressed by the professionalism of the UKAS team. They were very thorough but remained positive and constructive throughout the whole process.
For further information on the programme please visit the IQIPS website.
- The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national body recognised by government to assess evaluating organisations to international standards. UKAS operates under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and is a non-profit-distributing company limited by guarantee. UKAS accreditation involves assessment and verification (against international standards) of certification, inspection, testing and calibration services. UKAS employs over 300 assessors and technical experts, and has over 40 years’ experience. For further information visit the UKAS website.
- Action for Deafness (AFD) provides audiology services under contract with NHS West Sussex. AFD also runs Resource Centres to provide information, advice and support to Deaf and hard of hearing people, together with the demonstration and sale of specialist environmental aids and equipment. AFD’s strategic goal is to support the concepts of Independent Living and Social Inclusion. AFD believes that by providing services for their client base, significant success is achieved in helping those who are in some way vulnerable in our society. The AFD mission statement is “Making things happen for Deaf and hard of hearing people”. More information can be found on the AFD website.