Healthcare Environments Limited are delighted to announce their successful assessment against the Investors in People (IIP) standard, on 15 th March 2005.

We decided to work towards obtaining the IIP standard to demonstrate that we care about our people, invest in our people, and that we have good practices in place.

Initially in December 2004 Karen Butler, our Office Manager, attended a one day workshop provided by Business Link to learn about IIP and its standards. To follow up she benchmarked Healthcare Environments against the IIP requirements and concluded that most, if not all of the requirements were met by the good practices we already have in place.

Karen was then contacted by Catherine from Business Link, and in early January she met with Catherine to discuss our processes and procedures, along with Suzie Forde, our Senior Health Facility Planner. Suzie joined the company in 2000, and initiated most of the successful processes and procedures we have in place. Following the meeting, Catherine recommended that we were ready to apply for assessment.

Our assessor, David Rhodes, spent a day at Healthcare Environments speaking to a cross section of staff, to establish what happens in Healthcare Environments and to gather evidence. David concluded that we have many strengths including a clear Mission and Aim; a structured communication strategy; a well-established appraisal process; and a comprehensive skills matrix system. He was particularly impressed by our “environment of exchange of best practice and knowledge”.

He concluded that there were no further actions required and recommended that Healthcare Environments Limited met the standards necessary to be awarded the “Investor in People” status.

Healthcare Environments aim to continue working to these good practices, and will be re-assessed against the standard within the next 3 years.