MEDICAL IMAGING AND PACS
The benefits of ISAS accreditation
Jointly developed by the College of Radiographers and Royal College of Radiologists, the ISAS (Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme) is aimed at UK organisations providing diagnostic imaging services to both the NHS and private sector. Launched in 2009, ISAS promotes best practice by comprehensively addressing patient experience, clinical effectiveness and staff safety. The Blackpool Victoria Hospital was the first radiology/diagnostic imaging service to achieve ISAS accreditation within the NHS. Here, Dr Graham Hoadley, consultant radiologist and national clinical advisor, NHS Improvement, looks at the benefits of successfully completing the ISAS accreditation process.
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SAS accreditation is a robust assessment of a radiology service, requiring great effort by a
large number of staff to achieve success. There is also a small but not insignificant financial cost to achieving this standard. At the time of writing there are just five NHS and two private services that have achieved accreditation. It is reasonable therefore to ask: “What are the rewards for the effort?”
The benefits can be considered under the headings of advantage to the department itself, to its staff, to patients, to the whole organisation, to commissioners, and to the wider NHS and the DH.
My own organisation had a quality assurance programme for many years. Since 2002 (as an early pilot site for what is now NHS Improvement) we have had an ongoing programme of service improvement. We wanted to have tangible evidence of a high standard of service and patient care that we felt
we delivered, and relished the opportunity to learn from others.
It was no mean feat to get all our governance processes and documentation up to date and organised, but we now have clear knowledge of where all relevant documents are held, who is responsible, and when they need updating. This also applies to trust documents which impact our department. We can therefore be sure that our governance is complete and current.
However, documentation without action is pointless. The accreditation process requires us to demonstrate, by audits or other evidence backed up by scrutiny on the site visit, that the procedures we have in place are being adhered to and are effective and that our patient information is up to date, accurate and understandable, and provided in a patient friendly format.
ISAS has given us contact with other
departments going through the process, and we have helped and supported each other. When there are enough accredited departments it may be possible to formalise this better with an ISAS ‘users’ forum, to promote exchange of ideas. The process of inspection itself helps to share best practise between organisations, and this should become a national driver of quality.
The teamwork needed by hard-pressed staff has led to a sense of unity and pride, not only in the achievement itself, but in knowing that our service is high quality, that it has been improved by the process, and also in identifying areas for further improvement.
The clinical domains indicate a major patient focus, with 45% of the standards and 44% of the criteria relating to patient safety or experience. With ISAS accreditation we can therefore confidently assure our patients that we will meet their needs, and that their privacy and dignity will be preserved.
56 | national health executive Jul/Aug 12
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