Accreditation in the NHS Sharon Dobbins CDTV SHA

Accreditation in the NHS Sharon Dobbins, CDTV SHA David Peacock, NTW SHA

Accreditation of Library and Information Services in the Health Sector A Checklist to Support Assessment 2 nd edition Compiled by Chris Fowler and Val Trinder October 2002

The purpose of accreditation • Tool for the SHA to assess how well services are managed & provided • Informs SHA strategy development • Mechanism to enable stakeholders to assess quality of service and value for money • Checklist can also be used as self assessment / quality management tool to monitor progress – both for parent organisation or library manager • To inform other assessment agencies, e. g. CHI • Identifies good practice which can be shared

Background and context • Importance of quality assurance in the health sector – Commission for Health Improvement, Improving Working Lives etc • 1997 – first edition

Background and context • Importance of quality assurance in the health sector – Commission for Health Improvement, Improving Working Lives etc • 1997 – first edition • 2002 – second revision – Shorter – Less prescriptive, recognising variety in service provision – Reflects developments in information provision

The process • Three year process • Preparation – checklist and evidence • Assessment day: – Panel – as objective as possible – Process • Report • Review

The checklist • Divided into sections and sub-sections: – Library philosophy and management – Resources – Stock and services • Measurement criteria: – “Must have” criteria – Graded criteria (0 = not met, 1 = further development still required, 2 = excellent)

Examples of criteria • MUST HAVE - The parent organisation has a formally approved library or knowledge strategy which is annually reviewed … - eg goes to the Board - demonstrating organisational ownership of the service • GRADED - There is a quality management programme in place, which includes setting, reviewing and revising service delivery standards and data collection and analysis - eg a complete process - not just collecting statistics - demonstrating that the service is proactively managed, assessed and evaluated

How Accreditation is awarded • Basic – all the essential (“must have”) criteria are met • Stage One Standard accreditation – all the essential criteria are met but the service has not received “excellent” grading on any criteria • Stage Two Accreditation with some areas of excellence – all the essential criteria are met and between 40% & 80% of the other criteria are graded as excellent • Stage Three Accreditation with significant evidence of excellence & innovation – all the essential criteria are met and 80%+ of the other criteria are graded as excellent

What is achieved? • Encourages good practice • Encourages development towards improved services • Prevents stagnation • Prevents bad practice going undetected • Supports quality improvement processes • Informs strategic planning at all levels • Better patient care

Examples of benefits • • Changes in management structures Positive changes to funding arrangements New staff Development of strategies with formal mechanism for Trust approval • Improvements to performance management, activity monitoring and data collection • Improvements to the physical sign-posting to the library from elsewhere in the Trust

The future • 2 nd edition with revised guidelines – 2005 • Major revision commencing in 2006 • Ongoing work with the UK Accreditation Forum • Ongoing assessor training