EQuIP accreditation: Feedback from a Sydney teaching hospital

Abstract

The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards' new Evaluation and Quality ImprovementProgram (EQuIP) accreditation model reflects the worldwide trend towards incorporatingcontinuous quality improvement and patient-focused care goals into hospital/health serviceaccreditation. We conducted a post-EQuIP feedback survey among senior clinical andmanagerial staff at a Sydney teaching hospital and identified significant levels of negativefeedback among respondents. Principal concerns were related to perceptions that the processwas unnecessarily unwieldy and that it offered little value in terms of patient care deliveryfor the significant amount of human resources it consumed.