ERIC helpline awarded Helplines Partnership Accreditation

ERIC, The Children's Bowel and Bladder Charity is delighted to be awarded a quality standard accreditation by The Helplines Partnership.

The Helplines Standard is a nationally recognised quality standard which defines and accredits best practice in helpline work.

The Helplines Partnership is a membership organisation that aims to promote excellence in communications by evaluating services and promoting best practice to meet service users’ needs.

Juliette Rayner, ERIC CEO says: “I’m so proud of Team ERIC for this tremendous achievement. Not only is it fantastic that our helpline is recognised, but the breadth of evidence submitted and scrutiny during the assessment truly demonstrates the whole organisation is in tip top shape!

There is a set of criteria that we had to meet to demonstrate our ability to deliver the highest quality service. This involved submitting an in-depth application that provided documentary evidence, a virtual assessment to observe our helpline team in operation to test their skills in delivering tailored information, emotional support, practical advice, and a listening ear.

The Helplines Partnership assessor found much to praise our helpline for in their summary report including:

• From the comprehensive evidence submitted and during the assessment it was clear that helpline planning is strongly focused on meeting the needs of callers.
• Our helpline is well-established and there is a clear commitment to continuous development to meet emerging needs.
• There is strong communication across all departments of the organisation and a strong focus on safeguarding throughout the service.
• Helpline advisors consistently displayed a comprehensive range of contact handling behaviours and demonstrated high levels of knowledge and expertise. Their dedication and commitment to offering a high-quality service was clearly evident.
• Service user feedback shows an overwhelmingly positive response with 85% of respondents reporting that contacting ERIC had made a positive difference to their family’s life and 100% happy to recommend ERIC to others.
• Volunteers spoken to as part of the assessment process reported feeling valued in their roles and full members of the helpline team.
• It was clear that the training programme for helpline advisors is comprehensive and appropriate.