Quality within Age Concern Isle of Wight
Age Concern Isle of Wight is committed to the ongoing development of quality assurance management in all parts of the organisation. First and foremost, Age Concern Isle of Wight aims to meet the expectations of the older people and their carers with whom we work. It also needs to meet the expectations of our funders and donors and the expectations of the statutory bodies which regulate us. Age Concern Isle of Wight also has a large volunteer force, whose expectations we also need to meet. We are committed to the fulfilment of people’s expectations of us as the foremost organisation serving older people in the Isle of Wight.
In order to demonstrate the quality of what Age Concern Isle of Wight does, we are developing an overall quality assurance system that ensures that certain standards are met and gives a professional focus to all our activities.
1) Age Concern Federation
Firstly, Age Concern Isle of Wight is an organisational member of Age Concern, the federation, whilst retaining its own autonomy and charitable status with a governing Board of Trustees. Age Concern Isle of Wight successfully retained its membership with the 2002 Audit Report to the federation and again on 18 July 2006 with a further Audit Report.
2) ISO 9001! 200 Certification
We have achieved ISO 9001! 200 qualification. This is an internationally recognised, prestigious award for quality.
3) "Quality Counts" - the Age Concern Quality Framework
There are currently seven standards that have to be met under the Age Concern federation Quality Framework:
• Involving Older People
• Diversity and Equality
• Volunteering
• Governance and Management
• Information and Advice
• Service Provision and Campaigning
• Partnership
Internal Audits, Evaluation & Monitoring
• Internal audits (regularly updated according to new legislation and national minimum standards) are undertaken regularly by the Quality Manager over all the quality standards that we hold. Areas of non-compliance and areas for improvement are acted upon and monitored.
• Customer service questionnaires are carried out throughout all parts of the organization and all projects as demanded by the particular project. These are analysed and any trends noted and dealt with.
• All externally funded projects carry their own inputs and outputs that are regularly monitored and evaluated.
• A Quality Management Group meets to raise the profile of quality issues and to facilitate systems. Attendees include staff from all parts of the organization.
• Comprehensive Volunteer Procedures cover all aspects of volunteering within Age Concern Isle of Wight which are beneficial to both the organisation and to volunteers themselves in terms of policies, procedures and practice and expectations on both sides.
• All policies and procedures are updated on an approximately 15 month cyclical basis and ratified by the Board of Trustees.
There are many strands to quality within Age Concern Isle of Wight. We bring all these together and make sure that not only do these strands fulfil all the demands of the federation and our funders but above all, we ensure that quality is at the heart of the organisation and that the organization fulfils the expectations of all those who come into contact with us in whatever way.