Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

External evaluation provides assurances that healthcare facilities have adequate quality systems in place. It also contributes to quality improvement, risk mitigation, patient safety, improved efficiency and accountability, and sustainability of the healthcare system.

In other words, by choosing care from an accredited provider, you choose care from a provider that has demonstrated a commitment to deliver quality services and has demonstrated that they have the capacity and capability to deliver quality services.

Accredited facilities have demonstrated their capacity, capability and commitment to deliver safe care of high quality, but this does not mean that errors or mishaps can never occur. However, an accredited facility must have procedures in place to acknowledge and mitigate errors and mishaps and to learn from them to avoid repetition.

In choosing your healthcare facility, you may look for published performance data from the provider. Accreditation standards accredited by ISQua EEA require a provider to publish performance data. However, it is up to the provider to decide precisely which data it will publish. In some countries, you will find websites where you can compare data from different providers. Data may include information on adherence to clinical guidelines and outcomes such as physical mobility function and treatment effect as assessed by Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). The provider may also publish data on how patients have experienced the care (communication, respect, involvement).

Please visit this page where you can view all those (standard developing organisations or external evaluation organisations) accredited by ISQua EEA under the International Accreditation Programme (IAP).

ISQua EEA cannot investigate complaints relating to the care of individual patients or service users in an accredited/certified health or social care facility. In this situation, you should raise the complaint with the individual service provider in the first instance, as they should have a process in place to receive and address complaints or issues with their service. Such feedback also helps them to identify where and how to improve their service. You can also address your complaint to the relevant external evaluation organisation.  More information about our complaints policy is available here.

You should review the eligibility criteria contained under each IAP and complete our application form which you can download here, email it to us and we will review and advise if you are eligible to participate.

Once you have reviewed our eligibility criteria and IAP information page, if you feel that your organisation is eligible for accreditation, please complete the application form. The ISQua EEA team will be in touch with you with next steps.

In most circumstances, you need to have your standards accredited before you can apply for organisational accreditation. There are some exceptions to this. For example, if your organisation has been approved to undertake assessments of health or social care services against the respective national or governmental standards in the jurisdiction in which you operate, then it may be possible to obtain organisational accreditation in the first instance. Your organisation will be required to provide evidence to demonstrate that it has been approved by the relevant authorities in your country to undertake assessments against the respective national or governmental standards. Please email us to find more. Please provide information in your email about the circumstances in your jurisdiction and the standards that your organisation has been approved to assess against.

From October 2025, it will be mandatory for organisations to have both standards
and organisational accreditation. Organisations should first apply to have their
standards accredited by ISQua EEA before proceeding to organisational accreditation. Please contact us at support@ieea.ch for further information.

From 2027 onwards, reaccreditation surveys for existing accredited standards will only be available where the standard set is used by an organisation that has achieved (or has scheduled) organisational accreditation before 1 July 2028.

The assessments of Standards, Surveyor Training Programmes and Quality & Patient Safety Training Programmes are undertaken as desktop exercises. This means that the assessment is based on the responses provided in the self-assessment tool (SAT) and the associated supporting evidence uploaded to our online survey management system, called Collaborate.

A survey team, approved by your organisation will access this information and produce a report with their findings based on your submission. They will not visit your organisation as part of the survey, and you will not have any contact with the survey team during the survey/assessment.

For the assessment of external evaluation organisations, known as organisational accreditation, a team of three surveyors will be allocated to visit your organisation to validate your organisation’s processes and your responses as outlined in your SAT. They will conduct interviews with your organisation’s Board, senior management, staff, surveyors and client organisations over a 5-day period to validate your organisation’s compliance with the ISQua EEA standards. They may also request additional evidence when on-site to further understand your organisation’s processes. A self-assessment tool and supporting evidence (in English) will need to be provided ahead of the survey interviews.

Yes, ISQua EEA will allocate a survey team and send your organisation a surveyor approval form and the surveyors’ biographies for you to review. You can accept or reject any surveyor, if you feel that there is a conflict of interest.

The active survey process itself takes about 4 months. However, we recommend you start preparing for survey about a year in advance of your survey dates. Please note that the International Accreditation Programme (IAP) is delivered through English and all supporting evidence for your submission must be provided in English. If English is not your first language, you will need to factor translation into your survey preparation schedule. For a standards survey, this means that the full set of standards must be provided in English.

Firstly, ISQua EEA recommends that organisations undertake a gap analysis exercise which involves reviewing and assessing your organisation’s performance against each criterion in the Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards, as this will help your organisation to determine how ready it is for an ISQua EEA survey and to identify realistic survey dates with ISQua EEA.

The amount of time needed for preparation will largely depend on your existing level of preparedness. The time in which the process is completed can be longer or shorter than 4 months depending on different factors.

Yes, all data is kept secure and confidential via our online system Collaborate, which is designed to allow users to safely and securely share information in one unified space from any desktop or mobile device. Each survey has its own site that can be accessed by approved staff from the client organisation and the survey team approved by the client organisation to undertake the survey or assessment. ISQua EEA staff also have access to each site for administrative purposes to ensure the smooth running of each survey.

If you are interested in becoming an ISQua EEA Surveyor, please read the below carefully.
ISQua EEA requirements for peer review surveyors/individuals employed by external evaluation organisations:

• Should have been a surveyor with an external evaluation organisation for at least 3 years
  with at least 25 days of survey activity or have equivalent onsite experience.
• Senior corporate management level experience within an external evaluation
  organisation, relevant to the work of ISQua EEA, such as experience in health and social care standards development, surveyor training, organisational evaluation (such as the scheduling and management of surveys).
• Experience within an external evaluation organisation or other training provider in designing and delivering training programmes preferably in quality and patient safety or related topics (applicable for quality and patient safety training programme surveyors)

ISQua EEA requirements for non peer review surveyors/individuals not currently employed as staff members with an external evaluation organisation but who work as surveyors for an external evaluation organisation:

• Should be a surveyor with an external evaluation organisation for at least 3 years with at
  least 25 days of survey activity.
• Should have senior corporate management level experience in a health or social care
  provider.
• Should have experience in standards development/revision or have participated in
  standards development/revision committees/groups with an external evaluation organisation.

Both peer and non-peer review surveyors should have confirmed proficiency in English and evidence of continued education to maintain skills.

These selection criteria will be considered when reviewing applicants whilst also considering the needs of the surveyor pool (e.g. areas of expertise/knowledge and geographical distribution). Training is delivered based on the programme needs, and meeting the above criteria will not automatically result in selection to become an ISQua EEA Surveyor.

All ISQua EEA programmes are delivered through English, and therefore, applicants must demonstrate an adequate level of proficiency in written English.
ISQua EEA will train selected applicants, and they will also be mentored before undertaking their first ISQua EEA survey. Individuals must successfully complete all stages of the training to be approved as an ISQua EEA Surveyor.

• ISQua EEA Surveyors are expected to:
• Commit to take part in a minimum of 1 survey a year;
• Attend update surveyor training when requested;
• Understand and apply the ISQua EEA standards when undertaking both desktop
  and onsite surveys;
• Evaluate their own, and their fellow surveyors’ performance.

Please note that this position is voluntary with no monetary remuneration.

We are not currently actively recruiting surveyors. If you are interested in becoming an ISQua EEA Surveyor, please send us your CV and a covering letter outlining how you meet the requirements to support@ieea.ch.

For entry into the IAP a once off payment of an access fee must be paid. This will give you access to the relevant resources and a client education session with the ISQua EEA team to help you to prepare for your survey.

Annual fees will apply for the four years of your accreditation cycle. This includes the year that your survey process will start. Invoices for the annual fees are issued in Quarter 4 each year. For example, the invoice for the 2025 annual fees will be sent to your organisation in Quarter 4 of 2024.

Fee categories are based on the World Bank rankings for the country in which an organisation is located and operating out of. Annual invoices will reflect the World Bank ranking at the time that the invoices are issued. As country rankings may change from year to year the annual invoices may also vary. Clients will be advised of any changes which apply on an annual basis. For more information, please visit the World Bank website HERE.

Discounts are available if an organisation has ISQua EEA accreditation for their standards, surveyor training programme and organisation or if an organisation has more than two sets of standards accredited.