The Endoscopy Department at the Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal is delighted to have received accreditation from the Royal College of Physicians’ Joint Advisory Group (JAG) for providing excellent patient care.
Lindsey Kelsall, Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Gastroenterology and Clinical Lead for Endoscopy for University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, said the team had worked hard to achieve the accreditation.
Lindsey said: “It is incredibly motivational for the team at Kendal to have achieved the JAG accreditation. It’s a testament to the care they provide to patients.
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Lindsey Kelsall
“Accreditation from the Joint Advisory Group means that the Endoscopy Department is delivering high quality and safe patient care.
“The JAG assessment team praised the unit for being: ‘A real hand-holding service in which patients are treated with the utmost respect and found that the unit was well led with both clinical and nursing leads, who foster a culture of openness and inclusiveness, which was evident throughout all aspects of the service’.
“Some people can feel afraid and anxious before visiting the Endoscopy Department so our team members work hard to build a relationship.
“The staff in Endoscopy have exceptional communication skills and provide empathy and reassurance. As a consequence, the feedback we receive from patients is highly positive.”
JAG said accreditation is a process of evaluating the quality of clinical services by guiding services through a quality framework.
Accreditation promotes quality improvement through highlighting areas of best practice and areas for change, encouraging the continued development of the clinical service. It’s a voluntary process for services to engage in.
Services submit evidence annually to demonstrate that they are continuing to meet the standards and have a five-yearly on-site assessment carried out by our experienced assessment team.