Trent Accreditation Scheme (TAS), the UK-based assessment programme, is eager to expand after finding success in Hongkong, its first international outpost. Representatives of Trent, Professor Steven Green and Dr Timothy O’Carroll attended the recent International Medical Travel Conference (IMTC) in Manila from November 20 to 23. Professor Green, an expert in infectious diseases and tropical medicine from Sheffield, said: “It was our first outing (to a medical travel conference) and we were heartened by the response.”
TAS was set up in the UK in 1993, originally as a result of concerns about the quality of care in isolated hospitals of which there were a number in the Trent Region. which was one of the largest NHS (National Health Service) region with a population of 4.5 million and staff of 85,000. These regions no longer exist following several NHS reorganisations. Trent also comes from a river which runs through the Northeast Midlands of England.
Liz Brownhill, Trent scheme manager, says the organisation was invited to work with the Hong Kong Private Hospitals in 1999 and originally did not consider taking the programme overseas as there were frequent reorganisations within the NHS and the staff at the time were busy with these and maintaining their workload. The partnership eventually went ahead, resulting in 12 facilities passing Trent qualifications. “We realised the scheme had worked well and is robust in Hong Kong, and that it could be adapted to other overseas situations.”
Trent-accredited hospitals in the Special Administative Region include Canossa Hospital, Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, Matilda International and St Paul’s Hospital among others.
What is Trent’s unique selling proposition? According to Brownhill: “We are the only whole hospital accreditation scheme based with the UK NHS and all our surveyors work within the NHS and/or private hospitals – plus we have a very few recently retired people. Our surveyors are mainly clinical staff with a few managers. Hence, we have access to all the up date good practice. We have links with all professions colleges such as medical Royal Colleges and also universities. Our standards are revised as practice changes and as guidelines are issued as staff are the ones who know most about these.
“In our overseas work we involve local people in setting the local standards so that the standards reflect local practice and culture and we train local clinical and other staff to be surveyors. the whole ethos of the scheme is one of development – we do not inspect. We have discussions about practice, we watch what is happening during surveys and we maintain contact with hospitals between surveys to enable them to develop both the staff and the organisation.”
All Trent surveyors like Prof Green and Dr O’Carroll are volunteers, who continue working in their clinical roles, meaning it is a real peer review scheme where surveyors can talk on an equal basis with staff in hospitals and understand fully the situation. No surveyors are paid for surveying and there are no full-time surveyors. Brownhill adds: “Our administration is very small as most work is again undertaken by staff doing other NHS work. Surveyors find that being a surveyor is excellent for their personal development and many have found that the skills they have gained through surveying have helped them gain promotion.
“In fact we have lost a number of experienced surveyors recently as they have moved to other posts and feel they need to settle in to new roles before continuing being surveyors, so we have recently recruited some more.”
Trent accreditation fees, Brownhill emphasises are reasonable, “as we do not have a large administration nor paid surveyors”. An annual fee for belonging to the scheme covers cost for surveys such as travelling expenses, training of surveyors, any presentations prior to surveys, special training events which are run every year such as Good Practice Days when people present what has been identified as good practice during surveys and a newsletter. Once an annual fee is agreed there is no additional charge.
In total, there are around 40 Trent-accredited hospitals.
REF: http://www.imtjonline.com/zine/news/united-kingdom-uk-seeks-to-expand
This article was published in the International Medical Travel Journal 6th Dec 2008.
