Diaverum, one of the world's leading renal care providers, has signed a contract with Bureau Veritas (BV) to standardise ISO certifications within the company. A pilot project has successfully been rolled out in Hungary and Poland earlier this year. In 2013 the ISO certification project will be expanded to an additional five countries in Diaverum.
“With this approach we are now auditing our clinics twice — through an internal audit programme and with an external body — to ensure highest possible quality and standards for our patients and staff.”
The head offices and clinics in Hungary and Poland were audited in 2012 together with the Diaverum Corporate Office in Munich. Based on these audits they all received the integrated ISO 9001:2008 (International Standard for Quality Management Systems) and ISO 14001:2004 (International Standard for Environmental Management Systems) certification.
Dr Jörgen Hegbrant, Chief Medical Officer of Diaverum, explained that by partnering with Bureau Veritas for a standardised and customised audit programme for all Diaverum countries, we will "reduce the complexity" of delivering the highest quality standards across our organisation.
"The ISO 14001 certification for environmental management is particularly interesting as we wanted to secure that our clinical practices complied with recognised environmental standards. Achieving the 14001 certification clearly indicates that they do and this will be to the benefit of all our stakeholders," he added.
The partnership with Bureau Veritas, themselves a worldwide player, is a move to align the certifications within Diaverum and standardise the approach globally. "Over the next few years, we will add more countries to the certification process with Bureau Veritas, starting in 2013 with five more European countries," Dr Hegbrant added. "With this approach we are now auditing our clinics twice — through an internal audit programme and with an external body — to ensure highest possible quality and standards for our patients and staff."
Bureau Veritas is a global leader in conformity assessment and certification services. The company offers services to help clients worldwide meet the growing challenges of quality, safety, environmental protection and social responsibility. Recognised and accredited by major national and international organisations, Bureau Veritas is present in 140 countries. "We are very happy to be working with the Diaverum Group because this organisation has demonstrated to have implemented a quality management system with the utmost professionalism and the awareness of the value that this system gives to the organisation," said Massimo Dutto, Certification Business Developer Manager Health & Social Work - Global coordinator Bureau Veritas.
"When conducting the ISO certification audits for Diaverum in Hungary and Poland earlier this year, we were impressed by the profound medical competence among the staff and the extensive training programmes existing within the company. Also we found all staff very motivated, responsible and cooperative. We are looking forward to meeting more of the Diaverum team and auditing additional countries over the next years."
The ISO certificates of Diaverum Hungary and Diaverum Poland can be found at www.diaverum.com, as well as a picture of the handover of the certificates to Dr Jörgen Hegbrant and Dr Staffan Schön, VP Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs.