What does PRSAS accreditation mean?

PRSAS accreditation means that you can have increased confidence in your pulmonary rehabilitation service and be assured of the same quality of care no matter where your services is in the country, provided it is PRSAS accredited. For the service it means a sense of pride in being able to show that they offer a high quality and safe service. It also increases opportunities for investment, growth and development of services.

What does not being PRSAS accredited mean?

Not having PRSAS accreditation does not mean that the service is of a poor quality or is unsafe. Some services have to work hard with PRSAS to secure the funding and support they need to meet the required standards for accreditation and PRSAS makes a clear distinction between services that are engaged in the process and those that are not. Some services meet the PRSAS standards in many ways but are unable to get accreditation as they are unable to meet certain aspects of the standards which may need a large amount of investment. 

If I have a concern about a PRSAS accredited service, what should I do?

The first thing you should do is take up your concern with the pulmonary rehabilitation service itself. Each organisation will have a complaints policy which will detail how you can raise concerns and who to escalate your concerns to if you are not satisfied with the response from the organisation. Some services may also have a Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) and they can often help you with your concerns.  PRSAS does not typically investigate individual patient complaints.

How can I get involved?

Most services will have a patient group which provide opportunities for patients to get involved in the development of the service. Your service may also have volunteering opportunities. Furthermore, you may want to look into becoming involved with a patient charity; further information is available on the Asthma + Lung UK website.

If you would like to get involved in the development of PRSAS, complete our patient survey and/or come along to our patient focus group.