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Purpose and Benefits
Purpose
Accreditation is a process of meeting organizational and program/service standards developed by impartial consumers, stakeholders, professionals, and provincial and national organizations. Accreditation indicates that the accredited organization has achieved an appropriate level of organizational proficiency and that it has reliable mechanisms in operation to continually improve the quality of services it delivers.
Benefits
Accreditation acknowledges a level of organizational competence that is comparable to other organizations accredited by the same accrediting body. It also identifies areas in need of improvement and provides suggestions on how those improvements could be made. Accreditation requires that an organization have numerous management controls in place related to accountability and efficient, effective use of available resources in providing services.
Benefits to consumers/clients and the public being served by an accredited organization:
- level of assurance that service quality meets or exceeds international standards;
- able to expect same level of service quality across the province in all accredited service provider organization/programs;
- can be confident that there are appropriate protections in place for privacy, staff competence and supervision, handling of complaints, physical safety, etc.;
- there are mechanisms for accountability to the person served;
- know there is a quality improvement process in place to continually improve services;
- know there is an opportunity to have input into services generally (e.g., part of consumer-based planning processes) and can expect to participate in the planning for one's own services.
Benefits to the organization being accredited:
- confidence that the organization is providing good services and has built-in mechanisms to ensure it is continually working to improve its services;
- opportunity to improve validation of the work of the organization;
- improves culture in the organization, improves staff morale, and contributes to good staff-management relations;
- opportunity to receive feedback at the time of the accreditation site review/survey from objective, informed, and skilled peers;
- level of functioning of the organization identified in relation to others in the industry, in the country, and in North America;
- improved efficiency and accountability;
- may reduce number and seriousness of complaints and incidents of both clients and staff;
- helps support requests for funding.
Benefits to funding bodies:
- reasonable level of assurance that the organization is well-run and provides good return on investment, which should mean fewer major problems that arise compared to non-accredited service provider organizations;
- reduction or elimination of the need for regular practice/program audits by the funding body - accreditation requires annual audited financial statements;
- ongoing program/outcome evaluations providing information on effectiveness, efficiency, and client satisfaction;
- identification over time of common problems related to similar agencies that need attention, e.g. through focused training.
For additional information on what accreditation means to you, please read the following:
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