Departmental Reaccreditation Process

Departmental accreditation is valid for 5 years.

During this time any significant changes within the department, such as the appointment of a new technical lead or if the department moves to new premises, should be accompanied by immediate notification to the BSE using the departmental accreditation email dept@bsecho.org.

Five years after accreditation

After five years, the reaccreditation process primarily consists of a check that the information held at BSE remains accurate. Confirmation will also be sought that any areas of concern highlighted during the accreditation process or anything described as a condition to accreditation being awarded, have been addressed.

A department will be notified by emails sent to both the clinical and technical leads 6 months before the 5 year reaccreditation date. DA website log in details and password will be included in the emails. The leads will be asked to log onto the DA website to check that the information about their department is correct. For departments that applied using the paper-based application process this information will have been transcribed onto the website by BSE administrators. The website data are slightly more detailed than the information collected on the paper forms so there will be some new fields to complete in addition to checking that the rest of the entries are correct.

During the reaccreditation process the department leads may be emailed by the departmental accreditation team for more information. They may be asked to upload photographs or documents or to provide detailed information in an informal telephone interview.

The result of the application for reaccreditation will be emailed to the department leads.

No changes to the number of accreditations at 5 years

If there are no changes to the number of accreditations sought (transthoracic /TOE/stress/ training) no fee will be required and a site visit will not usually be performed. If essential information cannot be conveyed electronically or by telephone one BSE inspector will visit the department.

Changes to the number of accreditations at 5 years

If department accredited for transthoracic echocardiography chooses to add one or more additional types of accreditation (TOE, stress or training) a fee of £200 will be applied and the BSE inspection team may decide to make a site visit.

Changes to the level of accreditation at 5 years

If a department awarded advanced level no longer meets this standard or a department previously at standard level has reached advanced level their status will be revised and no fee will apply.

Departments awarded accreditation before June 2007 were awarded one, two or three star level accreditation. These will be converted to standard or advanced level accreditation during the 5 reaccreditation process. If the information supplied in the reaccreditation forms is not sufficient for re-categorisation the department the leads will be invited to upload data to the website. If essential information cannot be conveyed electronically or by telephone one BSE inspector will visit the department.

Loss of accreditation at 5 years

If a department does not reach the criterion required for standard level transthoracic accreditation at 5 years all other accreditations will also expire because transthoracic accreditation is a mandatory requirement for accreditation in TOE, stress and training.

Certificates at 5 years

A new certificate will be issued to all successful departments reflecting any changes to the levels and types of accreditation which will be dated to expire 10 years from the department's initial accreditation.

Expiry of Accreditation

If an accredited department does not apply for reaccreditation at 5 years or if they no longer meet the standard level transthoracic accreditation requirements their accreditation will expire 5 years from their accreditation date. They will no longer be eligible to display the Departmental Accreditation certificate or use the Departmental Accreditation logo.

Ten years after accreditation

Ten years after initial accreditation we expect there will have been numerous changes both within the department (staff and equipment) and in the practice of echocardiography, therefore a new application is required. This attracts a fee of £500.

The technical and clinical leads will be emailed 6 months before the accreditation expires and advised to make a new application. It is likely to take several weeks to complete the whole process so it's advisable to start an application as soon as possible. Provided the new forms have been submitted and payment received by BSE by the department's 10 year anniversary their accreditation status will be maintained pending the outcome of the process.

A visit will be performed and a full report written as for the initial accreditation.

New certificates will be issued for 5 years.