Medicine and Health

The medicine and health sector safeguards the quality of life of humans and animals through precise diagnostics, effective treatments and disease prevention. Accreditation ensures that laboratories, proficiency testing providers, inspection bodies and certification bodies operate independently, professionally and in accordance with recognised standards – creating trust, quality and safety in the healthcare system.

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Overview

The medicine and health sector encompasses all activities aimed at maintaining, promoting and restoring health, in both human and veterinary medicine. Health matters because it directly affects the lives and quality of life of humans and animals and forms an essential foundation for a functioning society, social stability, economic performance and innovation.

This sector covers a wide range of specialised areas that together contribute to the quality and safety of healthcare provision. These include medical analytics, imaging and diagnostics, the development, manufacture and distribution of medicinal products, medical devices and in vitro diagnostics, as well as proficiency testing to ensure the comparability of medical analyses.

Veterinary diagnostics monitors animal health, detects diseases at an early stage and contains their spread – protecting both livestock and companion animals, as well as humans, from potential epidemics. These areas enable precise diagnoses, effective treatments and reliable disease prevention – contributing significantly to the protection of public health.

Role of accreditation

Accreditation is a key instrument for ensuring quality, competence and trust in the healthcare system. It confirms that laboratories, proficiency testing providers, inspection bodies and certification bodies operate in accordance with recognised standards and deliver their services professionally and reliably.

It ensures that analytical results are reproducible and clinically usable, enabling correct treatment decisions to be made. Competently inspected manufacturers of medicinal products and regularly audited quality management systems in the medical device industry reduce risks for patients and ensure compliance with statutory requirements.

Importance for the public, businesses and public authorities

The public can rely on health protection, patient safety and quality of care being assured. For public authorities, accreditation provides a reliable basis for monitoring quality in the healthcare system and enforcing statutory requirements.

Accreditation ensures that healthcare services are delivered competently, independently and to the highest quality standards – benefiting the public, authorities and the healthcare system as a whole.

Types of accreditation offered