Being part of the Code of Practice Scheme will mean that in your organisation you are:

• ensuring equality in service provision to all, regardless of their disability or equipment needs;
• aiming to prevent deterioration in the health and wellbeing of service users by timely provision;
• encouraging sensitivity to service users’ needs, resulting in improved clinical outcomes;
• protecting users from unnecesary death and serious incidents, by ensuring equipment provided is safe and of good quality;
• safeguarding the provision of vital equipment in the face of unprecedented cuts to services;
• helping more people to live independently in their own homes, contributing to the achievement of early intervention and prevention strategy;
• breaking down social barriers experienced by disabled people, by encouraging a ‘social model of disability’ approach to provision.

• Applying our Codes of Practice and embedding their principles into the ethos of your organisation will allow you to get services delivered right first time, with resultant improvements in clinical and financial outcomes – i.e. ‘better outcomes, lower costs’.
• Working to the approved quality framework, as set out in our Codes of Practice, will allow you to cope with the increased demands facing assistive technology services.
• Our Codes of Practice provide practical guidance for commissioning, tendering, providing services, and for measuring and assessing performance.
• Working under the Codes of Practice Scheme will assist you in the fulfilment of the many legal and welfare related duties and obligations relevant to community equipment services (e.g. Corporate Manslaughter Act 2007; The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008; The Equality Act 2010).

The work of CECOPS includes an Approved Trainer programme, which for the first time offers a recognised and credible training platform for the entire disability equipment sector.

Approved Trainers must undergo rigorous training themselves and will have strict criteria to meet before being in a position to offer their services to others. The benefits of having a national training programme are profound and far reaching. This can only result in better care for service users, safer and better quality services, and a more effective and efficient workforce. See Training for details.

The outcomes of the Approved Trainer programme are:

• a credible training framework, enabling all commissioners and providers to be trained on up-to-date and relevant matters relating to assistive technology services;
• an increased competency of the entire assistive workforce , especially as Codes provide these with the right knowledge and skills to undertake their core responsibilities;
• our Codes can be incorporated into: CPD programmes; internal inductions, staff appraisals and Knowledge and Skills Framework assessments;
• ability to assess the competency of staff working with assistive technology, by having the right tools and a benchmark as set out in our Codes;
• having a better trained workforce undoubtedly improves morale and performance, and as a result healthcare provision for the client;
• having a competent and trained workforce enables an organisation to maintain competitive advantage;
• a properly trained workforce saves an organisation money through increased efficiency.

Our Codes of Practice incorporate the principles of current health and care policy and strategy; compliance therefore will assist you in aligning your services to meet on-going NHS and Local Authority changes and strategies.

Our Codes of Practice also supports current regulatory functions, requirements and objectives.

Our Codes of Practice also provide a ‘ready-made’ framework for all commissioners, providers and users of services to enable them to commission, provide and monitor services.

“Our Codes recommend detailed procedures which, if followed, will help ensure that changes do not have a negative impact on service users.”

Sir Bert Massie CBE

Our Codes of Practice ensure services are commissioned, funded and provided appropriately, and that the right measures and controls are in place to ensure contracts are managed effectively. These guided principles, if followed, will ensure service users get the right equipment to the right place at the right time.

Working to the principles set out within our Codes of Practice can therefore result in significant savings on your wider budget through avoiding secondary episodes of care and more costly services, e.g. hospital and care home admissions. More immediate and easily identifiable financial benefits include procurement savings through the application of more efficient procurement procedures, which is also covered by our Codes of Practice.

Up until now there have been very few indicators, assessment tools and common benchmarks in place for determining the overall quality and performance of disability equipment provision. Our Codes of Practice and support tools provide you with a most effective tool for measuring and improving quality and performance, as well as providing a national benchmark for comparing how well your organisation performs.

“How can costs be reduced without diminishing service? Our Codes provide ways of measuring the service and its performance.”

Sir Bert Massie CBE

Be part of the only nationally acclaimed, recognised and independent Scheme for commissioning and providing all assistive technology services. For a long time it has been difficult to differentiate between good and poor assistive technology provision; but not any longer. By being part of the Code of Practice Scheme, especially if you have achieved Accreditation status, you are clearly demonstrating that your services stand out from the competition.

Whilst this may historically have only been an issue for private outsourced service providers, in-house equipment services may find themselves competing with the private sector to gain the local contract. It will become crucial for you to be able to demonstrate that you can deliver a high quality, efficient and safe service. Compliance with the Code of Practice Scheme will become an effective indicator that you can use to demonstrate your merits.

Our Codes of Practice cover commissioning of services; it is already standard practice for compliance with the Codes to be included in all tender documentation.