The OECI Board has officially approved the new set of standards and the final versions of the standards are published (see attachments). The questionnaires are accessible in the web-based e-tool and will be made available for centres following the process of the A&D programme. The OECI A&D Management Unit, in close co-operation with the OECI Liaison office, is currently working on finalising the manual with the procedures and background information on the programme.

OECI has revised the set of standards for the OECI Accreditation & Designation Programme, following a rigorous evidence-led process, and this has resulted in what we believe are the world's leading quality standards for cancer centres. As from 1^st October 2019 OECI offers centres the possibility to apply for the Programme using the new Standards (Manual 3.0 revision 2019), although applications using Manual 2.

During the OECI General Assembly on the 21^st of June the OECI members have agreed to change the fee to participate in the OECI A&D programme. The change of fee is applicable for all applications from the 1^st of January 2020. The new fee will be € 45.000. 

The OECI A&D programme is in the process of revising the standards. They have been discussed with member centres during the OECI Oncology Days in Bari (19-21 June 2019) and are currently finalised. As per October 2019 centres can apply for an accreditation based upon Manual 3.0. From that moment, it will be possible chose the set of standards for which centres wish to be accredited. From the 1^st of January 2020 centres can only apply for certifications based upon the new set of standards (Manual 3.0).

OECI is leading workpackage 5 (WP5) of the EU Joint Action on Rare Cancers (JARC) on Quality Assurance.  One of the central pillars of the JARC is the support for the three cancer European Reference Networks (ERNs), EURACAN for adult solid cancers, Eurobloodnet for rare haematological malignancies, and PaedCan for childhood cancers. A related objective is to spur the creation or consolidation by Member States of new national networks of centres diagnosing and treating rare cancers.

The OECI Accreditation & Designation (A&D) Programme aims to help European cancer centres implement a quality system for oncology, and provide cancer patients in Europe with equal access to high quality cancer care, backed up by excellent training and translational research.

As part of the A&D programme a multidisciplinary team of professionals in oncology (nursing, medical, quality, research) visits cancer centres for a peer review.

As an essential part of the long process of the 5-year major revision of the OECI Quality Standards, OECI held an experts meeting in Brussels on 10^thApril.  About 40 people were present, representing the OECI Board and Accreditation and Designation (A&D) Board and Accreditation Committee, our OECI Working Group Chairs, a selection of 8 OECI auditors, the 4 IKNL co-ordinators, and representatives from other significant European Cancer Societies.

Since the start of the Accreditation & Designation Programme OECI has made use of a webbased e-tool, in which centres fill out the self assessment questionnaires in preparation of the peer review visit. In February 2018 the A&D Board has agreed to implement a new interface for the e-tool, which has mainly the same features as the old one. Also, it provides options for better communication with the centres and the audit team within the programme. The e-tool is built and maintained by the same developer, Compusense.

Performing a peer review visit as an OECI auditor is a learning experience in your own professional life

in the fight against cancer in your own Centre, as well as a crucial part of ensuring quality improvement

in the applicant Cancer Centre.

You get the chance to examine all aspects of the Cancer Centre, how it is organised at the management

level as well as at the clinical and laboratory levels for all disciplines: nurses, physicians, researchers,

pathologists, management etc.

The OECI received the award for its Second Edition of the OECI standards from the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua).

The accreditation programme of the ISQua provides assurance that the standards used by OECI to survey the performance of health care organizations meet the highest international benchmarks for accreditation entities. ISQua’s mission is to inspire, promote and support continuous improvement in the safety and quality of health care worldwide. I