Cobalt celebrates 10 years of excellence
The Royal College of Radiologists and The College of Radiographers developed the Quality Standard for Imaging (QSI) to help diagnostic imaging services ensure that their patients consistently receive high quality services delivered by competent staff working in safe environments. Ten years ago Cobalt Health was the very first imaging service in the UK to be accredited in accordance with the standard, a formal recognition of their patient focused service underpinned by the organisational competence to deliver against key performance measures.
The charity are very proud to have been awarded the standard for the tenth year, demonstrating their continued commitment to excellence in patient care. QSI accreditation is a wonderful recognition of the standards achieved, providing a robust benchmark for our service, which in turn provides ongoing assurance to commissioners, referrers, service users and our regulators, that Cobalt consistently demonstrates the organisational competence to deliver safe, high quality imaging services.
QSI is a scheme based on the principle of independent assessment against a recognised standard, very much based around the patient experience. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has been delivering and managing QSI on behalf of the two Colleges since the launch.
Ann Pinder, UKAS senior assessment manager in healthcare said: “We are delighted to celebrate this tenth anniversary with Cobalt. To achieve UKAS accreditation an imaging service must show high levels of competence and care in all areas and there is an expectation to show improvement year on year. It is always a pleasure to work with the team at Cobalt and see their dedication to their patients and pride in the excellent standards of care that they deliver.”
Nigel Benatar, Cobalt’s head of governance said: “This is a fantastic team effort by all of our staff over the last ten years and our consistent success of achieving this award is reflected in their high levels of engagement and enthusiastic commitment to the rigorous QSI accreditation process and the benefits it brings. We are so proud of the dedication and hard work of the entire team, whom have refused to see QSI as a tick box exercise, instead focusing on a continuous programme of quality and service improvement, embracing it as a living, breathing culture of care. This in turn has given confidence to our patients that they are receiving the very highest standards of care available.”
Picture: Head of governance Nigel Benatar, head of MRI Karen Hackling-Searle and head of PET/CT and CT Roisin Dobbin-Stacey.
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