Vera Mountain, Radiology Manager at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Mark Selby, Radiology Office Manager, with the Trust’s ISAS Accreditation certificate watched by staff from the department
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Radiology Department has proved it is one of the best in the country after maintaining its accreditation with the Imaging Services Accreditation Scheme (ISAS) for the seventh year running.
The accreditation, which is approved by the Royal College of Radiologists and Society of Radiographers, is a national mark of quality which is held by only a small number of NHS Hospital Trusts in the country.
It focuses on five key areas: Leadership and Management; Clinical excellence; Facilities, Resources and Workforce; Patient Experience and Safety.
The Trust was the first radiology/diagnostic imaging service to achieve ISAS accreditation within the NHS.
Vera Mountain, Radiology Manager at the Trust, said: “ISAS accreditation provides evidence for commissioners, providers and patients that this has been an externally assessed imaging service and is safe and of a high quality.
“The process itself will promote service improvement in individual organisations and is a national quality driver.
“There has been a real team effort in order to achieve this prestigious award. The teamwork needed by staff has led to a sense of unity and pride, not only in the achievement itself, but in knowing that our service is of a high quality.
“The assessment involves collating a significant amount of evidence to be presented for inspection and we have now started working towards our submission for next year.’’
Accreditation to professional standards is supported by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, NHS Northern Ireland and NHS Wales.