Editorial
Accreditation a new milestone
Monday April 21, 2008
It’s one thing to say you have room for improvement and it’s another to put in place the disciplined processes you need to act on it. A corporate-wide accreditation — and the processes that go with it — provide those disciplines.

The purpose of accreditation is to ensure that organizations continuously evaluate, improve and report their success and growth. A certificate of accreditation tells the community that an organization has a system of checks in place ensuring its stakeholders quality, leadership and transparency.

With OMNI Health Care completing an accreditation process through the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA), the company has taken yet another step in that direction.

Through an accreditation process an organization benefits from another set of eyes to provide new insights. Achieving accreditation ensures consistency within OMNI homes in the areas of common and best practices.

The CCHSA looked at 580 key points that ensure continuous quality of care to residents. In the preliminary report OMNI learned it had hit the mark in 540 of these areas — an outstanding achievement considering this is the company’s first attempt at corporate accreditation.

The 40 areas on the checklist CCHSA says OMNI needs to improve upon are being looked at as learning experiences to help the company grow and expand.

Prior to seeking a three-year corporate accreditation, OMNI homes have all been through independent accreditation processes. The difference between single-home and corporate accreditation is that the latter gets everyone involved with the organization on the same page in terms of processes and best practices.

A CCHSA accreditation will be more proof in the pudding that OMNI is serious about demonstrating “what is possible with knowledge, love, support and understanding.”