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The DAA Group take over Telarc Quality Health
The Directors of the DAA Group are pleased to announce that, the health auditing division of Telarc (Telarc Quality Health) will be taken over by the DAA Group as from March 31st 2011.
DAA Group Directors Janice McEwan and Cathy Cummings say this is an exciting opportunity for clients of both companies, as it provides access to an even wider pool of experienced health auditors and auditing services throughout NZ.
Telarc time to refocus
As many of you will know, Telarc is a very large organisation specialising in quality assurance and accreditation programmes in a number of different fields, with health auditing being just one of their divisions.
However, Telarc CEO, Peter Rose says the time has come for them to concentrate more fully on their other core business activities and have therefore decided to withdraw from their health auditing activities.
Peter also says that “knowing the DAA Group’s industry wide reputation in health auditing, we feel that the DAA Group are best able to meet the needs of our healthcare clients and better positioned to manage the compliance requirements in the health auditing sector that has become apparent over the last few years.”
No immediate changes
The DAA Group expects the merging of the two organisations to take place over a number of months, with no immediate changes in terms of personnel at either organisation. As the auditor pool is merged, you may meet new people to complement the auditors you already have worked with.
Janice and Cathy will be working hard over the coming months to ensure clients’ needs are met. They have exciting plans to develop and enhance DAA Group services.
There will be a series of newsletters released over the coming months to keep all our clients informed. However, if anyone has any concerns or questions, they should contact the DAA Group by Telephone at 0508 2 IMPROVE or by email at info@daagroup.co.nz
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frequently asked questions
What does DAA stand for?
Designated Audit Agency
When Certification became a requirement under legislation and the Ministry of Health designated audit agencies, the Directors of the DAA Group Ltd decided to use the DAA name as it would become, and has become, widely known in the health sector.
How do you select our audit team?
When we provide a proposal we seek information from you about the size of your service, the services offered and any other relevant information. This is used in order to select a competent audit team who have the mix of skills to meet the needs of your organisation and who are trained and experienced as auditors. Where we do not have a trained experienced auditor with the relevant clinical expertise we will engage the services of a technical expert to work as part of a team in order to provide the expertise needed for your service.
All our audit teams are led by experienced lead auditors.
With the merge of the DAA Group and the Telarc Quality Health auditor pool from the 1st April we will have a large pool of trained and experienced auditors to use in our audit teams.
Do you use culturally appropriate auditors?
We do! As part of the planning for your audit we review your needs, including any cultural considerations. We should already understand the service you provide and to whom. Needs will be discussed with you. Our team includes highly respected Maori and Pacific auditors.
The merge of the DAA Group auditor pool and the Telarc Quality Health auditor pool will expand who we have available.
How do you maintain your auditor pool?
The DAA Group have never, to date, needed to advertise for auditors. We are proud to say that people have worked with us for many years and this helps to ensure the expertise within our audit team.
When we need new people we have a waiting list of already trained auditors wanting to work in our team.
Additionally, Janice McEwan, co-Director of the DAA Group owns and operates Quality Plus Training Ltd, a Private Training Establishment, that trains auditors. Janice has been training auditors for more than 14 years. Many of the auditors in the sector today have been trained by Janice, including people from the MoH, ACC and other auditing companies. The DAA Group therefore has knowledge of and access to a wide and varied group of potential auditors.
When will planning for our audit start and how are we involved in this?
When the DAA Group first start working with you we will allocate a client manager. We plan to do this over the coming months for those new clients that are coming to us from Telarc Quality Health.
Planning for your next audit activity starts about 4 to 5 months out from the planned time of audit, the client manager will contact you to complete a new profile. This will ensure that we plan appropriately for the audit taking into account services, size, locations, staffing and any specific needs you have. Dates generally are allocated at this time and negotiated with you if this is required. We then book our auditors for your audit.
Two months prior to the audit you will be contacted again to provide us with copies of relevant policies and procedures. The DAA Group undertake a separate document review (stage one audit) to the on site audit (stage two audit). This is completed about one month prior to the on site visit. This helps us to plan and prepare for your audit but additionally gives you a written report that assists you to complete any documentation gaps prior to the audit.
The audit plan (itinerary) is then developed and where this is more complex will be sent to you in draft to ensure that any issues can be addressed prior to the on site visit.
You can of course also ring us at any time to discuss any queries you have or to gain clarification on the standards. We have regular contact with many clients and enjoy this partnership with you.
Can you provide referees?
Absolutely. Clients we have worked with over many years are willing and able to speak with you about their experience with the DAA Group Ltd. We can arrange for you to speak with a similar type of service to your own.