Unit 3 - Quality & Compliance

Range:

Quality assurance - Quality assurance processes, quality maintenance activities

Quality improvement - PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act), map, benchmark, change, test, measure

Reasons - increased efficiencies, improve services provided to end users, easy to contact the correct person/department, satisfaction with product/service, services provided to the customer, customer experience, value for money, customer satisfaction

1. The difference between maintaining and improving quality.

2. The types of quality assurance activities that can be carried out by organisations to identify quality issues (e.g., process checklists, quality standards, documentaries, audits).

3. The reasons for organisations wishing to improve quality across the organisation.

4. The benefits of improving and maintaining quality to organisations.

5. How quality maintenance and improvement may differ between the public and private sector in terms of scope, budgets, processes, and accountability.

6. The different approaches used by organisations to improve and maintain quality in organisations (e.g., complaint handling procedures, process improvements).

Range:

Quality standards - European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), British Standards Institution (BSI), ISO accreditations, people-based accreditations.

1. The purpose of quality standards for organisations in different sectors.

2. Different accreditation across different sectors and the use of ISO standards.

3. The responsibilities associated with maintaining a quality accreditation including internal/external audits, process maps, documentation, cost.

4. How implementing a quality standard can improve processes and procedures in an organisation and identify areas for improvement.

5. The benefits to organisations in applying for people-based accreditations.

6. How an organisation benefits from obtaining accreditation for quality through.

-Increased brand awareness.

 -Assisting with tender opportunities.

 -Developing trust with customers. 

1. That each industry has different regulatory bodies and associated inspections, audits and reviews which vary greatly depending on the nature of the organisation, for example the difference in regulatory bodies for the healthcare sector (e.g., General Medical Council) and education sector (e.g., Ofsted/inspection).

2. The importance of organisations ensuring they are compliant with the relevant regulatory authority.  

3. The powers that regulatory authorities have in terms of issuing prohibition notices, closure, and suspension.

4. The purpose and frequency of inspections, the preparation an organisation needs to make in relation to inspections.

5. The impacts and risks of being regulatory non-compliant to an organisation. The approaches that organisations follow to be compliant.