Medequip is delighted to announce that the company’s Brighouse depot, which provides community equipment services for Kirklees Council, is the first in the country to achieve the coveted ‘Gold’ grade from CECOPS (the Community Equipment Code of Practice Scheme) in a comprehensive assessment covering all aspects of service delivery.
Accreditation to the ‘Gold’ grade confirms that Medequip Brighouse has met and, in some cases, excelled against the requirements of the Code of Practice. It underlines the organisation’s commitment at all levels to proactive monitoring and compliance, as well as continuous improvement and implementation of new ways of working.
Medequip provides community equipment services (CES) for more than 40 local authority contracts across the UK and holds corporate CECOPS certification for each and every one. Achieving a first CECOPS ‘Gold’ in Brighouse is particularly appropriate as this was the first location to achieve CECOPS accredited status back in 2014.
At the time, it was a contractual target for Medequip to achieve accreditation within the first year of the Kirklees CES contact and a visionary specification for Kirklees, making them the first local authority in the UK to be assessed to what was then a new standard focused entirely on CES.
CECOPS CIC is the only independent standards body in the UK assessing the commissioning and provision of all assistive technology services, including clinical and technical aspects. The new CECOPS graded approach has a continuous improvement focus alongside themes including customer experience, quality, safety and performance, governance and risk management, leadership, efficiency and effectiveness and innovation.
Assessments are carried out by independent assessors against the established CECOPS Code of Practice. The objective is to provide a template for commissioning and providing community equipment services, setting out clearly defined and specific standards and measurable outcomes. The results are helpful for commissioning teams when evaluating and awarding contracts, and also help the public to judge how their own providers are performing.
The CECOPS grading system was introduced to help improve services and outcomes, and to recognise those organisations who go the extra mile in terms of quality, safety and performance,
confirmed Brian Donnelly, Chief Executive for CECOPS CIC. It is very encouraging therefore that the Medequip Brighouse service has achieved a ‘Gold’ grade, which indicates a very good level of service. Congratulations on this achievement!
David Griffiths, Managing Director at Medequip, stressed the importance of the ‘Gold’ award. Accreditation at this level for Brighouse and Kirklees Council demonstrates clearly that we are leading the field in supplying safe and efficient services, and external validation that our governance structure and processes meet and, in some cases, exceed the CECOPS requirements.