A JRC survey on the use of ISO standards in breast cancer care services in Europe finds that in 76% of the countries examined at least one healthcare organisation is accredited or holds an accredited certificate of conformity to the respective standard. This reflects the need to consider what is already in place when developing a European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services, aimed at improving quality of care. The survey shows that ISO standards most widely used are applied in breast cancer diagnosis and screening.
Breast cancer is the biggest cause of death by cancer of women in Europe. Most European countries acknowledge the importance of quality in breast cancer services but use different standards to cover the various stages of care. The JRC’s report on the use of ISO standards in breast cancer care portrays the situation in 25 – out of the 35 contacted – countries that participated in the survey via their national accreditation bodies. The findings, which reflect the heterogeneity of certification and accreditation tools applied by breast cancer care services, will contribute to the European quality assurance scheme for breast cancer services in the framework of the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC).
The report of a survey on accreditation and conformity assessment in the field of breast cancer in Europe highlights the diversity across Europe showing that: