The UK’s national accreditation body, UKAS, has put out a call for certification bodies to express interest in an ISO 7101 Certification scheme, the management system standard for healthcare organisations.
What is ISO 7101?
ISO 7101 is a global standard for healthcare quality management that can be certified by organisations to demonstrate their commitment to quality.
The standard sets out a set of requirements that help healthcare organisations improve patient care, safety, and patient experience with clauses covering:
- Healthcare facilities management and maintenance,
- Waste management,
- Handling and storage of materials,
- Service user belongingsEmerging technologies,
- Service design in healthcare8.8 Supplies and services from external providers,
- Provision of services,
- People-centred care,
- Ethics,
- Patient safety.
ISO 7101 is a management system standard that can easily be integrated with other Annex SL based standards.
When can I get ISO 7101 Certified?
Since its publication in 2023, the standard has garnered interest in many different countries including the US, Italy and Japan.
Interest has also been growing in the UK, with training courses now available and the national accreditation body putting out a call for interested Certification Bodies to take part in a pilot scheme.
One aspect that may delay the roll-out of accredited certification is the availability of competent healthcare auditors. ISO 17021-15 provides “requirements for Competence requirements for auditing and certification of management systems for quality in healthcare organisations”.
Following a successful pilot, accreditation of the certification bodies, and enough competent auditor resource.
Implementing ISO 7101 within your Organisation
The lack of accreditation does not need to delay implementation of ISO 7101 in healthcare settings.
The requirements are well set out in the standard, and with competent support you could build a management system, or extend the scope of an existing quality management system to make your organisation more efficient and improve the patient experience.
Contact us to discuss this or another requirement.