One hundred and fifty services have now been accredited by the Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service (SEQOHS) accreditation scheme. Alere Healthcare Connections was the 150th service to achieve SEQOHS accreditation.
Alere Healthcare Connections is a well established provider of occupational health and drug and alcohol screening in the United Kingdom.
SEQOHS aims to raise the overall standard of care provided by occupational health services by assessing services against a set of standards developed by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM), thus helping to make a meaningful difference to the health of people at work.
Over 330 Occupational Health services are registered with the SEQOHS and 150 of these services have been awarded accredited status. The other services are at varying stages in the accreditation pathway.
Dr Sally Coomber, clinical lead for SEQOHS at the Royal College of Physicians, explains:
I would like to congratulate Alere Healthcare Connections for all their hard work and all of the other accredited services on their high level of achievement. SEQOHS is a dynamic accreditation scheme, which promotes the importance of continual improvement. Occupational Health services are required to commit considerable time and resources to achieving accreditation. Their commitment is driven by the recognition that SEQOHS is a robust scheme offering real business benefits. It enables Occupational Health services to identify the standards of practice to which they should aspire to achieve the improvements in quality necessary to reach the accreditation standard.
Neil James, Managing Director of Alere Toxicology, commented:
Alere is delighted to have gained the highly respected SEQOHS accreditation. This confirms that Alere Healthcare Connections has undergone a rigorous assessment, through a robust audit regime, to ensure our services are managed and delivered to a very high standard. We are very proud of this achievement as it will give our current and prospective customers a clear demonstration of the quality and delivery of our offering. This covers all aspects of our Occupational Health and Wellbeing services; from understanding a business need to excellent service delivery. Employers can be confident in using the services of AHCC that the health of their employees - and their business - is being managed effectively.
Once accredited, services are required to renew their accreditation annually. This annual assessment encourages services to reflect on the past year and to continuously improve their service by addressing issues raised through audits, surveys and complaint procedures. SEQOHS accreditation is fast becoming essential for services to maintain their commercial competiveness.
SEQOHS is managed by the Accreditation Unit at the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) on behalf of the FOM.
For further information about SEQOHS visit the RCP website
For further information about Alere Healthcare Connections contact Lisa Roberts. 01235 861 483
For interview requests for Dr Sally Coomber, please contact Linda Cuthbertson, head of PR, on 0203 075 1254 / 0774 877 7919, or email Linda.Cuthbertson@rcplondon.ac.uk