The Requirements and Guidance for the Accreditation of Certification Bodies providing Clinical Service Certification schemes has been developed by HQIP and UKAS through work stream 1 of the CSAA and is supported by a working group of Lorraine Turner (UKAS), Louise Cleaver (HQIP), Debbie Johnston and Graham Mockler. The guidance is based on ISO/IEC 17065:2012 and has been mapped to this standard.
A workshop was held in January to gain initial input to the document, which has been developed following this. A context document is attached to provide an overview of the Requirements and Guidance and how this links to the wider work of the CSAA.
There is some fundamental terminology to be aware of within this document, that may be different to the terms you currently use. This is explained and outlined on pages 4-5 and summarised below:
- Accreditation is the recognition by UKAS of various bodies such as medical royal colleges who in the document are referred to as Certification Bodies.
- Certification by a certification body (e.g. RCP) is the recognition that a clinical service or scheme has achieved agreed defined standards.
