The Q Mark for Homecare
In the absence of state regulations the Q Mark for Home and Community Care Quality Management Systems framework ensures home and community care operators have established business processes and procedures to ensure that the highest standard of care is provided to all clients and transparency for their families.
This ensures that Home and Community care providers are independently assessed in the key areas but not limited to:
- Effective Management including; corporate governance, professional standards, community involvement, continuous improvement, adequate numbers of trained and appropriate skilled staff to ensure the safe delivery of care and service to service users.
- Appropriate Access and Service Delivery; including audit, care plan development and delivery, reaudit.
- Service Users Rights and Responsibilities including; privacy, confidentiality, advocacy, independence and complaints management.
Benefits of Holding The Q Mark for Home and Community Care
- The Q Mark for Home and Community Care gives you third party certification from the National Quality Organisation (EIQA – The Guardians of The Q Mark) which enhances your client’s confidence in all aspects of your Home and Community Care’s processes, procedures and quality of care. (Current consumer recognition of The Q Mark stands at 87% – September 2012, Ireland)
- The Q Mark ensures that you are fully conversant and compliant with all relevant legislative and regulatory controls, and gives your team a framework which encourages them to operate to the highest operational standard.
- The Q Mark identifies what is working for you and what’s not working for you, at ALL levels within your Home and Community Care service.
- The Q Mark gives you competitive advantage by demonstrating your organisation’s commitment to the highest standard of quality and excellence by using distinctive certification and marketing material based on the most widely used framework in Ireland.
- The Q Mark enhances your opportunity at tender because you can demonstrate that your quality of care management system operates to the highest level.
What The Q Mark can do for Your Business
- Increase your revenue
- Increase your turnover
- Increase your customer base
- Increase your profit margins
- Increase staff output rates
- Decrease staff absenteeism
- Decrease staff turnover
- Improve your company’s processes and procedures
- Improve your business efficiency
The Q Mark for Home and Community Care – The Only 100% Continuous Improvement Programme!
The Q Mark for Home and Community Care is a continuous improvement programme. This means that 100% of your services processes, procedures and resources are assessed on an annual basis in compliance with the Q Mark for Home and Community Care QMS framework criteria.
At the end of each annual audit, each Home and Community Care service provider is given an extensive business report. This will identify current best practices as well as suggested areas for improvement and will provide you with the basis of a business plan for the year ahead. The report will also identify ways for the service provider to operate to the highest standard of quality care and provide an excellent quality of life for service users.
During subsequent audits, all recommendations from previous reports will be assessed to ensure that every Home and Community Care provider continues to improve their standard of operation year on year.
Using The Q Mark framework ensures that a Home and Community Care provider has accountability in every part of their service, whilst enhancing consumer and client confidence. It also allows for easy preparation for any regulatory authority audit e.g. NERA.
Who Should Apply for The Q Mark for Home and Community Care
The Q Mark for Home and Community Care is for every company operating in the Home and Community Care Sector. (Single or Multi-site)
The Q Mark for Home and Community Care Framework Explained:
The Q Mark framework for Home and Community Care QMS is based on five principal elements, all of which are underpinned by continuous improvement.
Continuous improvement simply means that there is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes.
The five principal elements are:
- Leadership and Commitment
Please note that the term ‘leadership’ is used to describe everyone involved in running the company. Organisations will have different ways of describing leaders as senior managers, management etc.
How the management of the company is committed to their Quality Management System and the plans they have in palace to learn from experience and improve upon it. - Employee Engagement
How the employees are involved in the Quality Management System and how their feedback is utilised. - Excellent Business Systems and Processes
How the key processes of the business are devised, reviewed and improved upon. This area also examines the supporting processes and how they are improved upon. - Customer Experience
How customers are listened to and how this feedback is acted upon. - Results
How the business collates, reports, reviews and improves its results annually.
Achieving The Q Mark for Home and Community Care Quality Management Systems
On initial audit, the business needs to score at least 30% in each of the five
principal elements and an overall minimum score of 55% to achieve The Q Mark for Quality Management Systems Level 1.
There are three levels to the scoring outcome:
- 55% Level 1
- 70% Level 2
- 85% Level 3
How to Apply for The Q Mark for Homecare
- Complete the on-line registration form Here
- On receipt of your application and fee payment, you will receive your registration certificate from Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA) along with your copy of The Q Mark for Home and Community Care Framework.
- Using The Q Mark for Home and Community Care Framework, create a checklist of areas in your business that do, and do not comply with the requirements
- When you are ready for your audit contact us to confirm a date to complete your audit.
The Q Mark team will be happy to support your preparation for your audit and will answer any queries that you may have about the requirements of the framework.
If you would like to compare your current operating standards to The Q Mark for Home and Community Care Certification QMS framework, you can apply for a mock-audit. This is a full audit by an experienced auditor who will guide you through the process at a time and date that suits your schedule.