Staff at Whiston and St Helens hospitals are celebrating after becoming the first in-patient diabetes service in the UK to achieve Level 1 accreditation with the Diabetes Care Accreditation Programme (DCAP).
DCAP is a UK-wide accreditation programme, developed by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Diabetes UK, which aims to improve the quality of diabetes care in hospitals by setting quality standards and measuring how services perform against them.
By participating in DCAP accreditation, inpatient diabetes services undertake an ongoing programme of service and quality improvement, focusing on seven key areas:
- Leadership and operational delivery
- Clinical effectiveness
- Clinical processes
- Person-centred care
- Safety and risk
- Improvement and workforce
Jan Cardwell, Diabetes Nurse Consultant, said: “We are delighted to be the first in the UK to receive this new accreditation which is testament to the skills and commitment of everyone in the team.
“Working towards DCAP accreditation has brought our team together and given us a platform to help support making further improvements to the standards and quality of care that we deliver for our diabetes inpatients.
“The DCAP team were extremely supportive and approachable and gave us helpful feedback when needed. We look forward to working with them towards Level 2 accreditation and make even more improvements within our service”.
Rob Cooper, Chief Executive of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I am so proud of our diabetes team members.
“It is a huge achievement to be the first service in the UK to receive this accreditation which is testament to the commitment of everyone in the team.’’
Level 1 accreditation with DCAP signifies that a hospital has demonstrated its commitment to delivering essential, high-quality diabetes care to patients admitted to its facilities.