Clinical Service Accreditation (CSA): BSI PAS 1616:2016 Healthcare – Provision of clinical services – Specification

Guidance | Published: 01 Nov 2016

Part four of six clinical service accreditation resources produced by the former Clinical Service Accreditation Alliance (CSAA).

A Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is a document that standardises elements of a product, service or process. The British Standards Institute (BSI) were commissioned as part of the CSAA work to produce a PAS – PAS 1616:2016 Healthcare – Provision of clinical services – Specification for clinical services.

The PAS 1616:2016 can be used to help clinical services achieve their potential more quickly and to enhance or increase collaboration. It can also:

  • Provide clarity to clinical service users about what they can expect from a clinical service
  • Enable a clinical service to continually self-assess and improve
  • Enable service and systems planners and funders to commission on condition of adhering to the PAS’s requirements
  • Help demonstrate compliance, increase the effectiveness of regulation and potentially reduce the regulatory burden.

What does the PAS cover?

PAS 1616 is for use by any clinical service that provides treatment and/or care to clinical service users. It specifies requirements for the provision of clinical services and covers aspects of this provision, including:

  • Clinical service planning and clinical service definition
  • Leadership, strategy and management
  • Person-centred treatment and/or care
  • Risk and safety
  • Clinical effectiveness
  • Clinical service users with complex needs
  • Staffing a clinical service
  • Improvement, innovation and transformation
  • Educating the future workforce.
  • It does not cover service-specific requirements for an individual clinical service

Who is the PAS for?

It is intended that this PAS will be used by:

  • NHS Trusts, clinical services and hospitals (known as ‘organizations’ in a clinical care context)
  • Commissioners of healthcare services regulators
  • Medical Royal Colleges

The specification will also be of interest to:

  • Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWB)
  • Health Education England (HEE)
  • Clinical services users (e.g. patients, their families and carers)

Step guide to implement the PAS

HQIP have developed this draft resource to support teams working to implement the PAS1616. Comments on its usefulness are welcome and can be fed back to HQIP’s accreditation team.

Accessing this resource

If you currently subscribe to British Standards Online (BSOL) and have the Sciences and Healthcare module (GBM 05), then this document has already been added to your collection and you can access the PAS free of charge. Please go to the BSOL home page and enter your login details as usual.

The Alliance has been able to secure a limited number of free copies of the PAS for NHS providers who are interested in and committed to self-assessment of and improvement of their clinical service. If you would like to be considered for one of these free copies, please complete the short questionnaire available here.

The document can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

For further information regarding Clinical Service Accreditation, how to get involved and the support available through HQIP click here

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