Integrated Management System - Quadra Consulting

Northern Ireland Hospice has been delivering palliative care to local people across Northern Ireland for over 35 years, their hospice care services both the community and in their buildings which they provide high quality, person-centred, holistic palliative care. They support and care for infants, children and adults who are living with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions. Their mission is to inspire and deliver excellent and compassionate specialist palliative care through effective service models underpinned by exemplary education, innovation, and research.

What is ISO9001 and ISO45001?

ISO9001

Over 1 million companies globally hold certification to ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard, placing them in ideal position to demonstrate to customers and stakeholders that they operate in accordance with the globally recognised standard. ISO 9001 allows organisations to improve control and manage core business processes. Not only will the standard enable these processes to be standardised, but it will also enable organisations to monitor and check effectiveness and identify when they are not properly applied. The most common reason for certification is that it is often a prerequisite in tender selection criterion. Therefore making them comparable with their competitors who may already have certification to the quality standard. Having a positive reputation and good personal relationships are no longer enough to guarantee contact retention.

ISO45001

ISO45001 can be applied to any organisation who wishes to establish, implement and maintain an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management, to enable organisations to provide a safe and healthy workplace by preventing work-related injury and ill health as well as proactively improving its OH&S performance.

Why ISO9001 and ISO45001?

Northern Ireland Hospice realised the massive benefits that ISO9001 and ISO45001 certifications could bring to the business in standardising operational processes through and setting a pathway for continuous improvement internally, through embedding Quality and Health and Safety improvements throughout the organisation.

The process to certification

Based on Quadra’s 30-year heritage in supporting companies develop Quality and Health and Safety Management systems aligned with ISO9001 and ISO45001 requirements, we were selected to assist and collaborate with Northern Ireland Hospice to achieve these overall goals.

What did Quadra do?

Quadra met with staff in Northern Ireland Hospice to understand business unit operations, gather information and access the existing Quality and Health and Safety processes against the requirements of ISO9001 and ISO45001. The outcome of this review was an action plan to provide an effective roadmap for Northern Ireland Hospice to achieve certification in both standards. Quadra developed process maps to satisfy the requirements of ISO9001 and ISO45001 and to reflect the operational requirements of the business and met with staff to raise awareness of the system requirements and assist in embedding the standards throughout the company. Following guidance through an implementation period, Quadra carried out a full internal audit of the systems across the organisation to assess and ensure readiness for certification and facilitated a management review in assessing the system prior to external audit.

What was the outcome?

Following the two stages of external audit, Northern Ireland Hospice were recommended for both ISO9001 and ISO45001 certifications first time and were pleased with the outcome. Achievement was of uppermost importance to all involved in standardising both Quality and Health and Safety Management processes throughout their diverse company, at an internationally recognised level.

What did the client say?

"The guys at Quadra understood our service goals and client needs and were able to direct us in formulating new Quality and Health & Safety Management Systems. We achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 accreditations, which enabled us to improve our processes, procedures and managements controls. This will ensure that we maintain a safer and more secure environment for our staff and patients. Thank you Quadra for all your assistance and continued support." - Andy Dealy. Northern Ireland Hospice.