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We are delighted to announce that Nua Healthcare is now the first Irish Internationally Accredited Autism Service Provider.

We just recieved news today that we have been successful in achieving accredited status by the National Autistic Society in the UK (nas.org.uk) who operate an internationally accredited quality framework. 

We are awaiting the full report with a detailed analysis from the independent review board but initial feedback has been extremely positive. Nua Healthcare are now the only Adult Autism service provider outside of the UK to achieve accredited status to date. We have also been the quickest organisation to achieve the status out of over 300 organisations worldwide who have engaged in the process.

David Lovage, from Autism Accreditation UK, reported that our service was unique amongst 300 services reviewed to date.

We have since been contacted by other overseas organisations with a view to visiting our service to observe our systems and approach in catering for individuals on the Autism Spectrum.

We are very happy with achieving this status and are extremely proud of our frontline team whos commitment and efforts over the past year have resulted in this outstanding achievement.

Some information about the National Autistic Societies Accreditation Program -

Established by The National Autistic Society (NAS) and its affiliated local societies, with support from the Department of Health, Autism Accreditation has been the foundation upon which much of the successful expansion of quality services for people with autism has been built.

The programme is a continuing accreditation process. It supports and advises services in the interpretation of the Autism Accreditation standards and advises them on creating quality action groups to assist the process. Services are advised on carrying out a self-audit process against our standards, using set criteria, until they are ready to undergo a formal review.

Criteria

The evidence is evaluated using autism-specific criteria, which are applied to each area of the organisation reviewed. In order to achieve accreditation against Autism Accreditation standards, an organisation must provide evidence that:

The accreditation process

"The Autism Accreditation programme is an extremely authoritative and well-structured quality system which promotes continuous improvement to create the highest of care standards." Chairman, UK Accreditation Forum and ISQUA UK

A brief outline of our process is given below. Autism Accreditation has gone to great lengths to make this process as fair and transparent as possible, using United Kingdom Accreditation Forum guidance.

• A registered organisation receives the Autism Accreditation standards.
• An Accreditation Advisor will carry out visits to set up a Service Support Plan, provide training in the interpretation of the standards and provide help in setting up a quality action group.
• The quality action group will carry out the internal self-audit against the standards.
• A copy of the self-audit is then assessed as to the progress of the organisation against the established criteria, though an Interim Development Report in preparation for the formal review.
• A formal review is carried out using a peer review process, using trained professionals in the field of autism spectrum disorders.
• A report on the team's findings is produced and presented to an independent panel for judgment.
• The evidence collated by the review team and the review team's findings are a matter of confidentiality between the service and Autism Accreditation and will not be shared with a third party without the consent of the service.  The exception to this is concerns of allegations regarding abuse which will be disclosed in keeping with NAS policy.

http://www.nas.org.uk/