Awareness of the need to ensure the institutional tasks defined in the regulations in force are performed correctly and the importance of providing evidence of the quality of the services provided by the Italian National Blood Centre (CNS) led to the need to implement a Quality Management System based on the UNI EN ISO 9001 standard.
The design of this System, which began in 2015, made it possible to establish the level of quality that the CNS Management ensures for the services provided by the Centre, through the analysis of the external framework and the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, the identification of management needs, the redesigning of the internal organisation, and the definition of a rigorous regulatory and monitoring system for both the service delivery and the technical-administrative support processes.
 
The Centre’s strategies and the planning of all the consequent objectives and actions are, and will always be anchored in the guiding principles of our Quality Policy as they outline the organisation’s general approach to quality that is in line with the expectations expressed by all the stakeholders.
 
In order to fulfil its institutional mission effectively, the CNS management is committed to the following general objectives:
  • guaranteeing, in all activities, respect for the basic principles of ethics, integrity, impartiality and transparency, as well as the absence of any undue influence or interference in the Centre’s activities
  • orientating the organisation towards interaction with all stakeholders and the understanding and satisfaction of their needs and expectations, to be translated into precise quality requirements in order to provide services that are always responsive to emerging demands and needs
  • implementing a proactive and dynamic systemic approach to the services provided and striving for effectiveness and continuous improvement, with constant reference to current regulatory requirements, while guaranteeing the flexibility needed in a rapidly changing context and in the constant search for an optimal level of sustainability 
  • adopting, in the design of service delivery processes, a risk-based approach to allow the identification of potentially critical factors linked to the quality of services, as well as undertaking preventive actions to minimise negative effects and seizing the opportunities offered within the blood field
  • working towards the continuous improvement of the level of quality offered and of management efficiency, both by putting in place a system of continuous monitoring of the Centre’s performance and of the degree to which the internal rules are applied, and by promoting in all employees a “scientific” approach to improvement, based on the collection and analysis of objective data and information, and aimed at overcoming self-referential attitudes and positions 
  • promoting the enhancement, motivation, involvement and professional growth of all employees, to enable them to fully assimilate the CNS “organisational culture”, understood as the set of standards, established practices, policies, objectives and values of the Centre optimising the human, technological and financial resources allocated to the CNS and rationalising their use, with a view to steering the evolution of services towards their sustainable development
  • optimising the human, technological and financial resources allocated to the CNS and rationalising their use, with a view to steering the evolution of services towards their sustainable development
  • standardising and rationalising the service delivery processes and those of technical-administrative support by making the most of the know-how acquired to date, in order to ensure the availability of clear and unambiguous references (particularly in relation to decision-making flows) to all collaborators and thus uniformity of behaviour and efficiency of management mechanisms
  • ensuring transparency of administrative activities and data confidentiality of all data collected by CNS stakeholders and used by the CNS for the purposes of monitoring and planning activities, in compliance with regulations in force
  • complying with the objectives defined by the Italian National Institute of Health and the systematic application of the regulations and procedures defined by it, in accordance with the regulations in force, also in relation to the CNS’s prerogatives of functional autonomy provided for under those regulations
  • ensuring visibility of the CNS’s activities and dissemination of relevant scientific and public health news to blood transfusion professionals and the community at large, through the adoption of appropriate communication strategies and information channels
The general principles and objectives outlined above find operational application through the definition and systematic assessment of specific objectives shared throughout the organisation.
The CNS Management undertakes to: 
  • periodically reassess, and update this Quality Policy when deemed necessary
  • ensure that it is fully understood, implemented and supported by all employees at different organisational levels
  • circulate it to all CNS stakeholders