St George’s anaesthetic team re-accredited for high quality patient care
Our anaesthetic team at St George’s have been re-accredited under the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) Anaesthesia Clinical Services Accreditation (ACSA) scheme.
ACSA is the RCoA’s peer-reviewed scheme that promotes quality improvement and the highest standards of anaesthetic service. To receive accreditation, departments are expected to demonstrate high standards in areas such as patient experience, patient safety and clinical leadership.
Dr Carolyn Johnston, Consultant Anaesthetist and ACSA lead at St George’s, said: “Maintaining our ACSA accreditation and gaining a re-accreditation has been a source of great pride for our department. It has helped us raise the standard of care and be confident we are benchmarked against the best.
“The accreditation acts as a barometer of the good quality of anaesthetic services that we know ourselves we provide. We needed to work with many other departments in the hospital on evidencing the standards – the ED, paediatric services, maternity and so on, and I think that has been really good for our working relationships to talk together about what a good quality anaesthetic service we have in these areas.
“In particular areas, the ACSA standards have changed our practice, and have been important for changing things in the Trust- like physical separation of children in recovery, improving our rest areas and expanding the pain service!”
Professor Ravi Mahajan, President of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, said: “St George’s anaesthetists demonstrated their continued dedication to enhancing the quality of service they provided across the hospital. The review team were particularly impressed with their ability to work across departments, integrating services and building good relationships.”
Well done to everyone involved.
