Blenheim increased its community health standard recently when Churchill Hospital once again received a national award of accreditation, demonstrating its commitment to meeting standards of practice and ensuring effective systems for quality and risk management within its service.
Churchill Hospital received this important recognition from the DAA Group, a leading Designated Auditing Agency that provides accreditation services in New Zealand.
DAA Group Managing Directors, Janice McEwan and Cathy Cummings, say accreditation shows the organisation is committed to maintaining safe service delivery and positive outcomes for people who use the service. Importantly it also shows they are establishing systems to monitor and learn from what happens in their service in order to continuously improve.
“Achieving accreditation demonstrates that Churchill Hospital is striving to improve their level of care to both patients and the community,” they say.
“Health services seek accreditation because they want to do their best and view this as another step towards excellence in patient care.”
To achieve accreditation, a health provider commits to a journey over time to achieve the EQuIP Standards for provision of surgical services which, will establish processes and systems for quality care and risk management.
There is a large amount of work that goes into preparing for certification or accreditation and it is achieved through the team work between its staff members. “Everyone at the hospital plays a valuable role in working to meet the EQuIP Standards. It gives staff a real sense of pride to work in an accredited practice,” they added.
Churchill Hospital proudly displays the DAA Group certification mark for all their patients to see.General Manager Nicki Stretch is extremely proud of the level of care provided by the team at Churchill Hospital. “Every one of our team are committed to providing a safe and caring experience for our patients. We strive to make a difference by working to the highest standards of excellence, and also knowing it’s the little things that count” she said.Churchill Hospital recently celebrated 25 years as a private surgical hospital. With 9 inpatient beds and a day-stay unit, Blenheim’s only private surgical hospital is well equipped to support patients undergoing a range of elective surgery.
DAA Group is a leading Designated Auditing Agency in provision of hospital services certification/accreditation services; for further information on DAA Group please visit www.daagroup.co.nz or call 0508 246 776.
For further information on Churchill Hospital please visit www.churchillhospital.co.nz or call 03 520 9653.
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NOTES TO THE EDITOR
DAA Group
The DAA Group Ltd has been designated, under Section 32 of the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001 to audit healthcare services by the Director-General of Health.
The DAA Group is a limited liability company registered with the New Zealand Companies Office. The company has been accredited to ISO 19011:2003, and by ISQua to provide certification and accreditation to a range of healthcare services.
To gain accreditation, healthcare services are assessed by a team of DAA Group auditors against a specific set of Standards set by Standards New Zealand and must demonstrate that they meet all the criteria set by that Standard.
Media Contact for DAA Group: Janice McEwan 0508 246 776
Media Contact for Churchill Hospital: Nicki Stretch 03 520 9653 or 027 705 9109