NHS England, NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have written to NHS provider organisations to raise awareness of the accreditation of diagnostic services and to strongly endorse uptake of this quality improvement mechanism, focused on patient safety and experience.
The accreditation process is a clinician-led assessment of the quality of diagnostic services. Accreditation provides independent assurance that the diagnostic services, equipment and processes meet these standards, with staff adequately trained to use them. The CQC will use a trust’s participation in diagnostic accreditation schemes to inform the level of inspection activity. This will provide evidence of the trust’s commitment to quality improvement.
Alongside the joint position statement, a Q&A covers key information around the benefits for both patients and organisations.