The Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality has obtained the accreditation of the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) again for its certification programme for clinical management units

Once again, the certification programme for clinical management units of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality (ACSA) of the Regional Ministry of Health has obtained the acknowledgement of the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), one of the world reference organisations regarding quality certification, with its accreditation valid until 2022. The acknowledgement ceremony took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last Monday, closing the first day of the annual conference of ISQua.

With such accreditation, ISQua endorses the quality standards developed by the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality in the area of clinical management, and it also certifies the international validity of the model that ACSA has implemented in Andalusia and Portugal, with the current certification of more than 400 Andalusian units and more than 100 units in Portugal.

This acknowledgement represents an element of continuity in the quality assurances of the certification activity of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality, which in 2013 obtained the accreditation of ISQua for the previous version of this manual and that also has the accreditation for the manual of hospitals.

In addition, ACSA maintains with ISQua the accreditation of the surveyors training programme, obtained in 2012 and renewed in 2016, as well as the accreditation as external assessment body, obtained in 2015. Thus, it is one of the two European organisations that has the acknowledgement of ISQua in all its accreditation programmes, and the unique organisation in Spain with the accreditation of its organisational model.

Regarding the “Standards manual for the certification of clinical management units”, ACSA has obtained the accreditation according to a specific international model that assesses the quality of the standards developed by organisations that certify health services. Such model is based on six criteria related to aspects such as the approach focused on the patient, the assessment of safety and risk, the strategic management, the quality management, the development and update of standards, and the assessment system of standards.

The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), based in Dublin (Ireland), is a private institution composed of organisations around the world. Its aim is to encourage quality in health systems, and its accreditation is one of the most prestigious ones with regard to healthcare quality. Accordingly, there are only seven organisations in the world (two of them in Europe) with the triple certification of this organisation. Among the other organisations with this acknowledgement we can find the Joint Commission International in United States and the Accreditation Canada. In ISQua’s web page there is a list with all the accredited organisations for consultation.

ISQua – 35th International Conference

 ACSA’s certification programme for clinical management units has been one of the awarded projects last Monday during the 35th International Conference of ISQua in Kuala Lumpur, in the ceremony that this organisation holds every year for acknowledging organisations and programmes that received its accreditation in the last 12 months. Moreover, these days the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality is participating in the activities of this conference, as institutional member of ISQua, as well as sharing its work with the other international experts. It has presented four studies done by its team about mHealth in Andalusia, governance assessment, certification as improvement tool, and acknowledgement initiatives for the care to patients with pain.

The Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality

The aim of the Andalusian Agency for Healthcare Quality is to foster and promote the Andalusian Quality Model. In order to do so, it stands as the certification body of centres, medical care units and social services, as well as of professional competencies, continuous training and health web pages and blogs, according to the accreditation model of the Andalusian Public Health System, always striving for excellence in healthcare and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. In this regard, ACSA has the accreditation of the National Accreditation Body (Entidad Nacional de Acreditación, ENAC) for the certification programmes included in the List of Normative Services and Documents, available in ACSA’s web portal.

ISQua’s accreditation strengthens the path that ACSA has been developing at the international level, with the implementation of its quality model in Portugal and its designation by the European Commission as independent assessment body of the European Reference Networks for rare diseases (ERNs), a milestone that involved the assessment of more than 900 reference units related to this kind of pathologies in 26 countries of the European Union.

In addition, in Spain, the Agency is the independent assessment body of Reference Centres, Services and Units within the Spanish Health System (CSUR-SNS) at the request of the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare.