The Outside Clinic has become the first solely domiciliary service to be awarded a nationally accredited standard for its audiology services.
IQIPS, the Improving Quality in Physiological Services (IQIPS) standard is awarded by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and The Outside Clinic is just the 60th company to have achieved that level. Accreditation of IQIPS is against professionally devised standards which address four core quality areas:patient experience, clinical, safety and facilities, resources and workforce.
The standard can be awarded in a range of physical disciplines including, ophthalmic and vision science, and audiology, the areas the Outside Clinic has been accredited for. Richard Gibson, operations director at the Outside Clinic said the journey to accreditation started in 2015. ‘We were invited to explain the scope and challenges of providing domiciliary services at a meeting of the Accreditation Clinical Advisory Group, UKAS and Royal College of Physicians.Following several years of hard work by everyone involved, we are incredibly proud to be the 60th recipient of IQIPS accreditation, as we were instrumental in helping to shape IQIPS so that it meets the needs of domiciliary patients, who are often very vulnerable.’
Paul Stennett, CEO of UKAS said: ‘Many congratulations to all the clinical, compliance and quality staff at The Outside Clinic on achieving becoming the 60th service to achieve UKAS accreditation under the IQIPS programme.UKAS accreditation already underpins the quality of a wide variety of healthcare services and is seen as a badge of honour amongst professionals.Accreditation to the IQIPS standard provides confidence to the commissioners, consultants and most importantly users of physiology services that the highest standards of care are available with patient quality outcomes at its core.’
All personnel pictured from The Outside Clinic unless otherwise stated:
Ethna Glean (UKAS); Accreditation Manager ISAS & IQIPS, Richard Gibson; Operations Director (From left) Philippa Harwood-Little; IQIPS Lead/Quality/Compliance, Ian McKendrick; Audiology Clinical Lead, Ethna Glean (UKAS); Accreditation Manager ISAS & IQIPS, Richard Gibson; Operations Director, Nick Wingate; Professional Services Director.