The International Organisation for Standardization(ISO) The International Organization for Standardization (Organisation international de normalisation), widely known as ISO, is an international standard setting body founded on February 23, 1947.The organization promulgates world-wide industrial and commercial Standards. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland Certification
ISO does not itself certify organizations. Many countries have formed accreditation bodies to authorize certification bodies, which audit organizations applying for ISO 9001 compliance certification. Although commonly referred to as ISO 9000:2000 certification, the actual standard to which an organization's quality management can be certified is ISO 9001:2000. The various accreditation bodies have mutual agreements with each other to ensure that certificates issued by one of the Accredited Certification Bodies (CB) are accepted world-wide. NABH
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) has been set-up under the national accreditation structure to establish and operate accreditation programme for healthcare organisations. NABH is an institutional member of International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua). The Board has representation from all stakeholders including government, consumers and healthcare industry. The structure incorporates Accreditation Committee, Technical Committee, Appeal Committee, Secretariat and a panel of over 100 assessors/surveyors selected among clinicians, hospital administrators and nursing supervisors. They have been empanelled after having qualified through a five days training programme.
NABH accreditation standards are incorporated from International standards for hospitals like JCI (Joint Council International) and Australian accreditation standards.These accreditation bodies have mutual agreements with each other to provide same quality and standards.
Accreditation standards
NABH’s accreditation focuses on learning, self-development, improved performance and reducing risk. Its assessment relies on establishing technical competence of healthcare organisation in terms of accreditation standards in delivering services with respect to its scope. It goes beyond compliance and calls for excellence on continued basis. It is this feature, which makes it market driven involving all stakeholders; be it consumers, empanelling agencies, regulators and other third parties.
NABH accreditation is based on optimum standards, professional accountability and encourages healthcare organisations to pursue continual excellence. Cardinal principles of accreditation evaluation are as follows: Hospital operations are based on sound principles of system-based organisation, which are transparent and objective Accreditation standards are implemented and institutionalised into hospital functioning Patient safety and quality of care, as core values are established and owned by management and staff in all functions and at all levels There is a structured quality improvement programme based on continuous monitoring including feedback on patient care services
The evaluation process incorporates interview with patients, residents and staff. It calls for on-site visit to patient care areas and to departments addressing issues related to physical assessment of infrastructure, medical equipment, security, infection control, etc. as required in the accreditation standards. In short, the accreditation involves a comprehensive review of not only facility but also of clinical competence of hospital to deliver services within its scope. As of today, the accreditation programme for hospitals is fully functional. Out of more than 60 applicant hospitals, 16 have already been granted accreditation and rest are undergoing different stages of evaluation. Lakeshore Hospital & Research Centre Ltd is the 14th NABH accredited hospital in the country and the first one in Kochi. NABH accredited hospitals are expected to operate at the highest level in terms of patient safety and quality of care.
Accreditation – A bold step to quality "Market forces, such as medical tourism, Health insurance and corporate sector etc… have accelerated the demand for quality in healthcare services. As a result, there is a growing demand from patients and health conscious people for better healthcare as the lack of quality assurance mechanisms limits their access to appropriate health services." Quality Assurance Program of Lakeshore
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the activity of providing evidence needed to establish QUALITY in work, and that activities that require good quality are being performed effectively. All planned or systematic actions necessary to provide enough confidence that a product or service will satisfy the given requirements for quality. Quality Assurance Program in Lakeshore Hospital is trying to improve the quality of services provided. The aim of ISO & NABH accreditations is to continuously improve the quality of our overall services. The call for quality
Until a few years ago, most people in healthcare had a misapprehension that higher quality meant higher costs. Better quality meant new technologies, new medicines, less hospital days and more staff. While all this was evidently being worked upon, paucities in access, affordability, efficiency, quality and effectiveness of health services have remained the same. At Lakeshore Hospital the patients receive a high quality standardised treatment procedures at minimal costs The need of hospital accreditation
Government is working on introducing regulation in all segments of healthcare delivery. Accreditation on other hand is voluntary. Accreditation is based on optimum standards, professional accountability and encourages healthcare organisations to pursue continual excellence. In most developed economies there are very strong financial incentives to seek accreditation. Governments acknowledge that independent assessment programme by way of accreditation should be encouraged with incentives, more so for secondary/tertiary level of hospitals to bring in the best in terms of patient safety and quality of care. |