If patient safety is king, then quality is queen

This year, my medical aesthetic practice was scrutinised by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) (www.ukas.com).

For those who do not know, UKAS is the national accreditation body for the UK, appointed by the Government to independently assess organisations. UKAS provides internationally recognised certification, testing and inspection services for health. We were required by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and UKAS to undergo a robust process and reach a certain required standard of competence through the UKAS accreditation service. Alongside a regional nursing colleague, this was a process that I navigated via the three stages of inspection, from self-declaration to approval through to accreditation in order to provide a private COVID-19 testing service to our patients and the general public.

Accreditation drives confidence in all sectors, from industry to health. We were assessed and are now accredited to ISO 15189:2012 and ISO 22870:2016 to provide a safe and competent service. This is now linked to our quality management system (QMS). UKAS underpins everything they do with quality, and now we do, too. So, if patient safety is king, then quality is queen.