The gastroenterology team at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) have maintained a prestigious professional accreditation for their endoscopy services following a rigorous evaluation.
The department has been accredited by the Joint Advisory Group for its high quality gastroenterology services at its recent assessment, having held the accolade for the last five years. The team submits supporting evidence yearly, and the next inspection will take place in 2021.
This is formal recognition that the department meets high quality standards for safe and effective endoscopy services. Aspects of the service which are evaluated include clinical quality, safety, quality of patient experience, workforce and training.
PAHT is one of only 180 service providers, including in private healthcare, to hold the accreditation.
Ayse Casey, general manager for planned care in the Medicine Healthcare Group at PAHT, said: “JAG accreditation is incredibly important to the team. It means that the hard work carried out by everyone to maintain quality standards is recognised at a national level. JAG also shares learning internationally so we have insight on global quality standards.
“While this is a team effort, Leanne Summersell, service manager for gastroenterology, and Andrea Kitchener, assistant service manager, work extraordinarily hard to ensure that evidence is submitted and to make sure documents are kept up to date and meet the requirements.”
Dr Lakshmana Kumar, consultant in gastroenterology and lead for endoscopy added: “We are delighted for our efforts to be recognised by the Joint Advisory Group.
“We thank the whole team for their support in maintaining our high quality work.”
Dr Marcelle Michail, acting chief medical officer, added: “Achieving the accreditation is testament to the excellent work and team commitment of our gastroenterology department.
“Well done to the team on their dedication to providing a highly effective service for our patients.”