Ruah Community Services has become one of the first community service providers to earn the tick of approval against National standards for healthcare and mental health services.
Representatives from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) were in Perth to present Certificates of Accreditation to Ruah, and joint recipient Outcare, against the National Safety and Quality Health Standards (NSQHS) – which were adapted for community services – and the National Mental Health Standards (NMHS).
Ruah Chief Executive Officer Debra Zanella said accreditation was a fitting recognition of the commitment and focus of staff in their work to support thousands of Western Australians every year who are experiencing homelessness, living with mental health issues or trying to escape domestic violence.
“The wellbeing of Ruah clients – and our vision to create a better, stronger community – are the key focus of everything we do. Our staff work very hard to empower and support people in need, delivering a high standard of care at all times,” Mrs Zanella said.
“Achieving National accreditation is an amazing recognition of our staff, not only for their commitment during the assessment and evaluation process, but also for their innovation in integrating Standards compliance measures into daily work practices.”
ACHS accreditation is an assessment of excellence in health care and embeds a strong organisational focus for continuous improvement in the safety, quality and performance of healthcare organisations that deliver care to the community.