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 he HA has appointed the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) as our partner in implementing the pilot programme of hospital accreditation. Accreditation is a complex process, and to ensure that it is conducted systematically, we need to establish a creditable and independent local surveyor system. Here, we introduce the Management Core Group and the role of our local surveyors — two of the key elements of the accreditation programme — to help you understand more about its development and role.
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The Steering Committee on Hospital Accreditation set up by the Government has been working closely with the ACHS. To enhance its collaboration and communication with the latter in the establishment of the local surveyor system, the Steering Committee has endorsed the establishment of a Management Core Group consisting of several foundation members from the Department of Health (DH), the HA, the Private Hospitals Association (PHA) and the ACHS. |
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To ensure that the accreditation process is conducted in a fair, transparent and independent manner, it is important to have a local surveyor workforce comprising a diversified group of healthcare professionals, who are well versed in the services and operations of a hospital. Recruitment of the first batch of local surveyors took place in June this year, and a Selection Panel consisting of representatives from the DH, the HA, the PHA and the ACHS selected 40 candidates for training in accordance with the selection criteria drawn up by the ACHS. |
Twenty of the candidates attended an induction workshop in Hong Kong in July. After evaluation, some will participate in training survey(s) in Australia or Hong Kong to complete the surveyor training. The ACHS will then evaluate their performance and recommend to the Management Core Group on the formal appointment of ACHS (Hong Kong) Surveyors. A surveyor appointment ceremony will be held in March next year, and surveyors are initially appointed for a period of two years. Surveyors will be reappointed every four years, subject to satisfactory performance and commitment to surveys and continuous education and development. |
From 30 November to 11 December, local surveyor trainees, together with ACHS surveyors, will have an opportunity to participate in the consultancy survey of our five participating hospitals. This survey aims at identifying the strengths and gaps so that recommendations for improvement can be made. This will help the hospitals to prepare for the actual accreditation survey in 2010-11. |
If you would like to find out more about the accreditation programme, please visit the HA intranet website.
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