Inspire

Inspire (The Eden and Razzett Foundation) is a Maltese registered voluntary organisation which specialises in the field of inclusion of persons with disabilities, including physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Inspire draws on many years of experience from two of Malta’s leading NGOs working in the field of disability. Inspire prides itself on its mission which is to help every person with a disability achieve equality and inclusion.

Today, Inspire addresses the educational, therapeutic, social and recreational needs of persons with disabilities, focusing on their ability and potential, and promoting and facilitating their independence and participation in society.

The organisation operates through a multidisciplinary team of experts and members of staff specialised in various fields related to disability. In-house expertise includes the following: inclusive education; multisensory intervention; occupational, physio and creative therapy; speech & language pathology; psychology; inclusive, adapted and mixed ability sports; accessibility; assistive technologies and independent living skills.

Inspire is currently led by Antonello Gauci (CEO) who is supported by a team of over 160 professionals that work hard towards achieving its mission which is to help every person with a disability achieve equality and inclusion.

The organisation ensures that the design, content, and delivery of its services are of the highest possible standard. For this reason, The National Autistic Society UK (NAS) – the UK’s leading charity for persons affected by autism, has been intimately involved in the development and accreditation of Inspire’s autism services. Autism Accreditation is an internationally – recognised quality standard.

The STEP Intensive Early Intervention Programme received accreditation by the NAS Accreditation Programme in 2002. In July 2013, Inspire’s Multisensory Therapy & Therapeutic Horseback Riding Services became accredited, followed by Inspire’s Pool and Therapeutic and Creative Arts services in 2016; they were the first of their kind to receive accreditation by the NAS.

In June 2019 the therapeutic services at Inspire were awarded Advanced Accreditation status by the NAS. Inspire was the first organisation outside of the UK to have ever been awarded the Advanced Accreditation status and the first organisation to earn this mark of excellence for therapeutic services by the NAS.

Autism Accreditation provides an autism-specific quality assurance programme for over 300 organisations throughout the UK and across the globe. The Autism Accreditation award offers a seal of quality and can give people peace of mind when choosing a service for a relative.

It seemed like a natural next step in the organisation’s journey of quality assurance for Inspire to embark on the process to achieve ISO certification and in 2016 Inspire received ISO 9001:2008 certification. Inspire then went on to transition to ISO 9001:2015 certification in November 2017.

Industry:

Social Care

Certification date:

19/01/2016

Challenge

Inspire has committed itself to embrace an inclusive quality assurance culture. Furthermore, Inspire endeavours to understand current and future service users’ needs and strives to meet users’ requirements and exceed expectations at all times. Across Inspire, the organisation wanted to ensure that there is a shared understanding of what it is trying to achieve and how.

“Through a better understanding of how we, as an organization, are functioning, we can establish opportunities for improvement. However, we required professional guidance on the process of evaluation to ensure that Inspire continues to develop & reach its potential – & so we approached STEP to support us on this journey.”

Approach

Inspire’s approach to quality assurance bases itself on the belief that its employees and clients are agents of change who take ownership of the quality assurance process and its procedures and consider it as a fundamental part of their work. This process uses various means such as Parent Feedback Meetings, information gathering sessions, gap analysis and surveys.

All services are monitored and measured through key performance indicators and audits such as the internal audits carried out by STEP which enable Inspire to establish areas to be developed or improved, as well as to understand what is working well.

Outcome

In early 2015 with the support & guidance of STEP, Inspire embarked on a journey of preparation to become ISO certified. After six months of close collaboration, STEP carried out the first internal audit, and just two months later an external audit was carried out, which resulted in Inspire achieving ISO 9001:2008 certification that was awarded by Dimitto. Inspire then went on to successfully transition to ISO 9001:2015 in November 2017.

Inspire is incredibly proud of this achievement and works hard to ensure that the certification is renewed as part of the ongoing audit cycle and continuous development.

“Inspire is driven to ensure that the design and content, as well as the delivery of all of its services, are of the highest possible standard and quality.

For this reason back in 2015 Inspire embarked on a journey to achieve ISO certification and has since transitioned to ISO 9001:2015.

STEP has been on this journey with Inspire since the get go - they maintained good open communication at all times, had faith in Inspire’s potential to achieve the goal and as an organization we have felt we could trust in them every step of the way – this has made the process a much simpler one.

ISO certification is a wonderful achievement for Inspire as it provides a seal of quality and can give people peace of mind when choosing us as a service provider - something we are very proud of.”
Paula DoumanovChief Services Officer