Endoscopy service at Treatment Centre achieves prestigious accreditation

Company news

Aug 12, 2010

Southampton NHS Treatment Centre has been awarded ‘Level A’ accreditation for the quality of its Endoscopy service, putting them in the top 5% of assessed units in the country.

An endoscopy is a procedure where the inside of your body is examined internally using an endoscope; a thin, long, flexible tube that contains a light source and a video camera, so that images of the inside of your body can be relayed to an external monitor.

The accreditation comes from the Joint Advisory Group on Gastrointestinal endoscopy (JAG), whose aim is to ensure the quality and safety of patient care by defining and maintaining standards by which endoscopy is practiced in the UK.  The four main areas of criteria assessed were:  Clinical quality, Quality of the Patient experience, Training and Workforce.

The Endoscopy Manager at Southampton NHS Treatment Centre, Anita Rushford (pictured far right with the Endoscopy Team), is delighted with achieving the accreditation:

“This is great recognition for our service and we are all extremely proud.  All the team are very passionate about their work which is why we average outstanding patient satisfaction scores of 99%!  To receive Level A accreditation is great recognition of the team’s work and a boost to the Treatment Centre as whole.”

Paula Friend, the General Manager at Southampton NHS Treatment Centre, said:

“I am delighted with the JAG accreditation for our endoscopy service. This is an outstanding achievement and reflects the quality of service provided by our staff. They fully deserve this accreditation and it confirms what our patient satisfaction results already showed – that we are providing an excellent level of service to NHS patients from throughout the Hampshire area.”

One of the Treatment Centre’s Endoscopy Unit’s recent patients was Wendy Cummings, a sports therapist from Fareham, who was finding work a struggle due to persistent pains in her stomach.  To read Wendy's story please click here