The Outside Clinic, currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, began offering an audiology service in 2000. However, only in the past seven years and with the subsequent introduction of NHS Any Qualified Provider (AQP) contracts in 2013 has it stepped out of the shadows of mainly home eye testing.
Domiciliary eye care still accounts for a significant part of the Outside Clinic’s activity, but the hearing provision has been growing year on year as the demands of an ever-ageing population drive the requirement of dual sensory care solutions in the community.
A sharp increase in patient numbers can present its own challenges of improving and maintaining levels of support, and in response the company decided to apply for IQIPS (Improving Quality in Physiological Services) accreditation. IQIPS is a professionally led assessment and certification programme designed to improve services, care and safety for patients.
The IQIPS programme is managed and delivered by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) under license by the Royal College of Physicians. UKAS is the sole national accreditation body for the United Kingdom and recognised by government, to assess against internationally agreed standards.
Driving up the quality of care for patients, while delivering efficiency and productivity is a key principle for commissioners of healthcare services, the Outside Clinic notes. It is the first domiciliary-only company to apply for IQIPS, which is also a first for UKAS. Standards have been developed with clinical settings in mind, so following consultation with the Outside Clinic, additional measures were included.
Steve Witts, head of community hearing service contracts, the Outside Clinic, says: ‘The challenge for IQIPS was to overcome the logistics of providing assessors nationally and working in domestic environments that differed from a hospital or high street practice. We have a strong relationship with our assessment manager who encourages a partnership approach of working in a supportive way. This has allowed us to reflect on what we do and start asking those hard questions that lead to growth and innovation.’
The IQIPS process is formed on a set of standards around patient experience, facilities, resources, workforce safety and clinical. Being able to reflect on the learning process and view things from a different perspective has been valuable to help the company understand ‘the challenges they would face from such a top-down forensic evaluation’, it says.
The Outside Clinic strengthened its IQIPS team with the addition of Charlotte Clements, an audiologist who has had first-hand knowledge of working with IQIPS clinical standards for the past three years as part of her accreditation process. She is also a qualified UKAS assessor.
Clements, head of commercial hearing services at the Outside Clinic, adds: ‘By having this culture embedded within the business to put these processes in place, it demonstrates a confidence that hearing services and patient welfare are taken seriously, and I look forward to working for such a dynamic and growing company at such an exciting time. UKAS accreditation will certainly make us stand out and identify us as a market leader in our sector.’
For the IQIPS accreditation process, support and buy-in was needed from the entire team of staff.
Stuart Burdett, managing director of the Outside Clinic, says: ‘While it has allowed us to reflect on all the hard work and processes we had already put in place before our IQIPS application, this additional scrutiny has meant we can confidently say we have been approaching our service provision at a very high level.
‘It was gratifying to know so much of what we had already achieved within our patient care was relevant, and that the IQIPS process enabled us to bring those parts together, further strengthening our patient pathway. The discipline of IQIPS now ensures we have all the right measures and outcomes in place to evidence that we are doing everything to the standard the Royal College of Physicians requires.’
Therefore, the Outside Clinic has embraced the benefits of the IQIPS process within audiology, and also recognises how in a highly regulated optical profession, the values of IQIPS scrutiny translate well and strengthen its position should they ever be adopted within optical services.