OQA Zertifizierungs-GmbH is accredited by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) as a Certification Body for Products acc. to ISO/IEC 17065 (Exception: GRL 06 Doctor´s Offices).
For certification and issuance of the Austria Quality Seal, the respective Quality Guideline and the General Terms and Conditions apply.
This Quality Guideline assumes that At-Home Nursing Care organizations clearly define their range of services and communicate and present it to their interested parties in an appropriate and transparent manner; furthermore, they continually measure, evaluate and improve their performance.
This Quality Guideline provides At-Home Nursing Care organizations with an opportunity to voluntarily demonstrate their capability to meet the requirements of this Quality Guideline, and to receive an award in form of the Quality Seal.
With the “Austria Quality Seal At-Home Nursing Care”, an independent and neutral body will document quality assurance, which is going beyond the legal requirements.
The requirements of the Austria Quality Seal involve the entire organization. Transparency of internal processes and structures enhance satisfaction and confidence of clients and their relatives – a key success factor for increasing the company’s market position.
The Quality Seal addresses facilities offering at-home nursing care and / or at-home nursing care incl. home helps. If an organization only provides at-home nursing services and has co-operation partners for home helps, they have to be recognized by country-specific guidelines.
However, these home help organizations are not allowed to bear the Austria Quality Seal.
A neutral and independent body will carry out regular external reviews that ensure and document the high quality standard:
Benefits for customers
- Transparency of service provision and payment
- Comprehensible definition for transition into another care system.
- Clear communication structures
Benefits for the organization
- Established corporate policy / philosophy aligned to the range of services
- Procedure, processes and structures are optimized
- Defined communication structures
- New marketing potentials through certification
- Increased reputation: sustainably and in the long-term
All legal, regulatory, and contractual requirements must be met and, depending on the scope, applicable statutory requirements in the current version must be observed.
In addition, compliance with the Quality Guideline requirements must be ensured during validity of the certificate.
Continuity in nursing and care, as well as transparency of service provision and payment are important requirements for organizations. Regulation of management tasks and personnel development are key success factors for service provision. Continual performance improvement should be ensured by considering employee- and customer surveys.
Initial assessment
Initial audit
- Preliminary examination (questionnaire)
- Main audit on-site (acc. to the Quality Guideline)
- Inspection and surveillance report
- Certificate (validity period: 3 years)
Surveillance audit
- After 12 and 24 months
- On-site audit (acc. to the Quality Guideline)
- Inspection and surveillance report
Recertification / renewal audit
- After 3 years
- Scope and procedure as with initial audit
- Inspection and surveillance report
- Certificate