SEQOHS Training Day Report

Geny Foster, Chair of COHPA attended a SEQOHS Training Day recently and has provided her views of the event below:

"As part of my role within COPHA and as Managing Director of Medigold, who are currently undertaking their SEQOHS accreditation, I recently attended one of the SEQOHS training days in London. The workshop was held at the Royal College of Physicians, with refreshments and lunch being served. There was a mixture of both public and private sector organisations in attendance, with everyone at varying levels of completion.

The presenters, which included high level participants such as Sally Coomber and those carrying out the actual audits, Debbie Johnston – SEQOHS Assessor Training Lead and David Maslen-Jones – SEQOHS Assessor, provided advice standard by standard, and then provided examples of evidences.

The workshop confirmed to me that there is little doubt about the standards. I did not, and I am sure that they would not have expected me to, agree with all the evidence examples given. However, there was the opportunity to challenge the auditors and to express concern regarding specific issues or evidences. There were certainly more examples of evidence given in the workshop than contained within the Standards themselves and that was particularly useful.

It was also very useful to gain a greater understanding of the accreditation process and to get a feel of how the auditors approach the audit.

Whilst I am sure that there will be some who will express a preference for workshops aimed at either public or private the mix was interesting and provided good interaction, although I suspect that the opportunities for networking about the accreditation are perhaps limited within the mixed group. I had some excellent chats with people during coffee/lunch and came away with several good ideas (never one to reinvent the wheel!). This ties in nicely with the KMS section of the SEQOHS website, which was recommended throughout the workshop and is certainly a developing resource for those who seeking accreditation.

Overall, I thought the day achieved its objectives, it certainly provided greater insight into the accreditation process, and I came away with a more complete understanding of the evidences required".
 

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