Accreditation: a sign of quality
In February 2008, BreastScreen WA was awarded four years accreditation with commendation with the national breast screening program, BreastScreen Australia.
All BreastScreen Australia services are regularly reviewed to ensure they provide a high quality service. The performance of every BreastScreen Australia Service is measured by assessing how closely it meets a set of nationally agreed standards.
Accreditation is the process that evaluates the overall Service. All Services must participate in the accreditation process to be part of BreastScreen Australia. The accreditation system includes checking that Services meet the standards through site visits, self-assessment and reporting to the national quality committee.
Services are only accredited if they provide an acceptable quality of service.
- Those that are very successful are given accreditation for four years. They monitor their own performance and are reviewed again in four years.
- Others receive accreditation for two years, and are reviewed again after that time.
- Services can also receive two year accreditation with high priority recommendations. This means there are particular standards the national quality recommends they improve upon. Their managers and the national quality committee monitor these Services more closely.
