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Accreditation and Awards
The Royal Veterinary College’s Beaumont Animal Hospital (BSAH) has been designated as 'Outstanding' by the Practice Standards Scheme (PSS), a voluntary quality assurance system designed to promote the highest standards of veterinary care.
The PSS was established by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS), which regulates the veterinary and veterinary nursing professions in the UK. The PSS steering committee is chaired by a representative of the RCVS and composed of representatives from all of the major veterinary and veterinary nursing organisations in the UK.
The PSS Awards require everyone in the clinical team to be working and thinking to the highest possible standards, and for a hospital or practice to have a strong culture of continuous improvement. Assessment is based on a review of processes and documentation and also interviews with team members to assess how these processes are implemented.
The five awards the BSAH was assessed and deemed ‘Outstanding’ in are In-patient Service, Diagnostic Service, Patient Consultation Service, Client Service and Team and Professional Responsibility. These break down into 17 sub-categories, and the hospital was judged ‘Outstanding’ in all of them. BSAH is the first veterinary practice in London to achieve ‘Outstanding’ awards in all these areas.
The Client Service Award is given to practices who demonstrate high levels of care for their clients. This award comprises only one module, Client Experience, encompassing practical and behavioural steps that practices can take to improve Client Service.
This award allows practices to demonstrate excellence in the service they provide to patients staying within the practice. So, for instance, it assesses factors such as facilities, nursing care for hospitalised animals and maintaining an aseptic surgical environment.
The Team and Professional Responsibility Award allows practices to demonstrate that they have systems in place to make sure that the welfare and safety of staff is paramount and that their knowledge and training is kept up-to-date. Furthermore, it also recognises the practice staff’s dedication to taking responsibility for areas that impact on the level of service offered to clients and patients, such as clinical governance, practice hygiene, record-keeping and prescription and medicines services.
The Diagnostic Service Award recognises the practice’s services in terms of the use diagnostic of techniques, such as radiography and ultrasound, and the training and safety measures in place for these.
The Patient Consultation Service Award recognises how the quality of the practice is reflected in the first-opinion services it offers to clients and patients. For example, it recognises further qualifications and training, maintenance of practice hygiene and ensuring high standards of nursing care.
Veterinary hospitals and practices that are successful in the PSS are also designated as RCVS Accredited Practices
