BSI publishes new clinical services specification

Published: 21-Nov-2016

PAS 1616 covers the full range of services from preventative care from first contact with a primary care health professional through to exit from the clinical service, including home care


BSI, the business standards company, has published PAS 1616, Healthcare – Provision of clinical services – Specification, in association with the Clinical Services Accreditation Alliance (CSAA) to help clinical services providers deliver efficient services that are good value for money.

PAS 1616 covers the full range of services from preventative care through all aspects of care that clinical service users and their carer(s) encounter, from first contact with a primary care health professional through to their exit from the clinical service, including home care. It includes requirements for clinical users with complex needs and for clinical services to seek and adopt innovation when that is considered appropriate.

Healthcare provision is becoming increasingly challenging, with clinical service users presenting more complex needs under constrained resources. There is also a growing need to demonstrate to stakeholders such as regulators, commissioners, funders and system planners that requirements are being met and improvements implemented.

Healthcare is provided in a wide range of facilities and settings, from public health, which includes screening and vaccinations in schools, to end-of-life care in specialist clinical services and in the home. PAS 1616 can facilitate collaboration and communication across the different clinical services and healthcare providers that make up a clinical pathway, providing them with consistency of structure, terminology and communications. This can allow clinical services, staff members and leadership team ownership over the clinical service and empowerment to act within a clearly given remit.

Compliance with PAS 1616 can:

  • provide clarity to clinical service users about what they can expect from the clinical service
  • enable a clinical service to continually self-assess and improve, regardless of whether there is any existing external evaluation scheme within that clinical service
  • enable service and systems planners and funders to commission on the basis of adherence to the requirements of the PAS
  • has the potential to reduce the burden and increase the effectiveness of regulation by helping clinical services to maintain robust records and documentation which could be used to show compliance with regulations
 

'PAS 1616 provides CEOs, managers, and clinical leaders with a framework to follow for their clinical service; a first step in the long-term aim of raising standards and improving quality,' said Anne Hayes, Head of Market Development for Governance and Resilience at BSI. 'It aims to fill a strategic and organisational gap by providing a structure and guidance for clinical services, thereby saving time and reducing wasted resources. Any clinical service can now review its current level of provision and create a roadmap for improvement.'

PAS 1616 covers clinical service planning and clinical service definition; leadership, strategy and management; person-centred treatment and/or care; risk and safety; clinical effectiveness; clinical service users with complex needs; staffing a clinical service; improvement, innovation, and transformation; and educating the future workforce. It covers clinical services within hospital settings, but it not exclusively for such clinical services. It does not cover service-specific requirements for an individual clinical service.

PAS 1616 was developed using a collaborative, consensus-based approach using experts from such organisations as: the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, BSI Consumer & Public Interest Network, the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, the Health and Social Care Accreditation Forum (HaSCAF), NHS England, NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Member of RCP Patient and Carer Network, Monitor – the Department of Health, the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Physicians Accreditation Unit, the Royal College of Surgeons and West Midlands Quality Review Service.

PAS 1616 is part of a suite of resources being delivered by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) on behalf of the CSAA.

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