Introduction

See also:

Accreditation Documents

OCCHA’s mission is to promote accountability and excellence in public health programs and services throughout Ontario. This is done primarily through developing, implementing and maintaining the accreditation process. The accreditation award symbolizes official recognition of excellence to the public, local community agencies, professional associations and local, regional and provincial governments.

Accreditation is defined as:

The process whereby the organizational and administrative aspects of a board of health/public health agency, including program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, are measured against peer-set principles and standards.

A principle is a simple and fundamental statement of truth upon which are established more specific standards. A standard is a statement of excellence, developed by peers, against which conformity of the agency is evaluated.

In the 2009 documents, the principles, standards, components and definitions are presented in VI sections. Section I - Leadership, Section II - Organizational Capacity, Section III - Workforce, Section IV - Partnerships and Collaboration, Section V - Programs, Section VI - Communication. These sections reflect the quality components within the OCCHA quality framework for public health units.

The standards for Leadership address

• Strategic Directions

• Governance

• Agency Management

The standards for Organizational Capacity address

• Organizational Structure

• Resource Management

• Records Management

The standards for Workforce address

• Staffing

• Training/Education/Skills

• Performance Evaluation

The standards for Partnerships and Collaboration address

• Collaboration

The standards for Programs address

• Research and Knowledge Exchange

• Planning/Implementation

• Health Promotion

• Health Protection and Disease Prevention

• Monitoring/Evaluation

• Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Risk Management

The standards for Communication address

• Internal Communication

• External Communication

The accreditation award symbolizes official recognition of excellence to the public, local public health agencies, other community agencies, professional associations, local, regional and provincial governments.

For a complete listing of the OCCHA standards, including the Accreditation Principles, Standards and Components please refer to the Accreditation Documents.