Audiology Services among the best in the country

Lindsay Tompson, Dental, Podiatry and Audiology Operational Manager

Audiologists from Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust are among the first in the country to receive a prestigious accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).

The services, run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, have received a ‘good’ rating under the Royal College of Physicians' IQIPS (Improving Quality in Physiological Services) programme.

The teams, which work across Bury, Oldham and Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, had to submit evidence about the experiences of service users, their facilities, safety and the quality of the service to receive the rating.

This was followed by four assessors visiting all sites, over a three day period, to assess first-hand how the audiology service operated.

Pennine Care is one of only two services in the country to receive the ‘good’ status.

Following the visit a report was produced that highlighted the following strengths of the service which included caring and empathetic staff, strong leadership and involving service users, volunteers and third party organisations in decisions regarding how the service is run.

Lindsay Tompson, Dental, Podiatry and Audiology Operational Manager for Pennine Care, celebrated the achievement.

She said: “I would like to thank each and every member of the audiology team for their dedication, passion and professionalism demonstrated each and every day.

“They have proved to the country they are a flagship service.”

The team is now entitled to display the prestigious UKAS logo on patient information.

Paul Stennett, Chief Executive of UKAS said. "Congratulations to the audiology team at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust on achieving IQIPS accreditation. The award means its patients can be confident that the audiology services they receive are compliant with the latest standards and best practices of clinical care."

The IQIPS programme is sponsored by Professor Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health. It has been developed to improve, promote and recognise good quality practice across the nine physiological disciplines.