Practice accreditation: the European perspective

摘要

Accreditation has different meanings in different healthcare settings.1 A complex picture emerges from reviews of healthcare accreditation schemes worldwide but two key features are common — promoting change and professional development.2 Accreditation in primary care settings is generally seen as a way of assessing and benchmarking the performance of general practice care across a broad range of clinical and organisational domains.3 It describes a formal process of self-assessment and external and independent peer review to encourage best practice and can result in recommendations for continuous quality improvement of safety and quality.4