Switching to ASF
Already accredited or certified by another body? You do not have to wait for your current cycle to lapse, and you do not lose the improvement work you have already done. Here is exactly how a transition works.
Why organisations switch: the most common reasons are cost that no longer fits the budget, a survey process conducted only in a language your clinical staff do not use day to day, standards written for a context very different from yours, or simply wanting a body whose full fee structure and decision process are published rather than partly hidden. Whatever the reason, ASF does not ask you to justify it.
No Lapse in Coverage
A transition is planned around your existing expiry date, not ours. You keep telling patients, regulators, and payers that your facility is currently accredited or certified throughout the switch — there is no gap where your organisation holds no valid credential, as long as you start the process before your current one expires.
What Stays the Same, What’s Different
| Stays the same | Different with ASF |
|---|---|
| Your facility, your staff, your clinical practice — nothing about how you deliver care needs to change to start | Assessment happens in the language your staff actually work in, not only in English |
| Any policies, SOPs, and evidence you already hold — reusable, not thrown away | National law is checked first; ASF’s own criteria apply on top only where they set a higher bar |
| Your internal quality team continues to run quality improvement day to day | The full fee — not just a headline registration number — is published before you commit to anything |
| Your renewal timeline — we plan around your expiry date, not ours | The accreditation decision is made by an independent committee with an external majority, not internal staff |
How the Switch Works
Run the free self-assessment against ASF’s criteria
No account, no registration. You will see immediately how your facility’s current documentation and practice map onto ASF’s Non-Negotiable, Core, and Standard criteria — most facilities coming from another body already meet a large share of these.
Tell us your current expiry date
When you register (still free, still no obligation), tell ASF when your current accreditation or certification lapses. Your assessment timeline is built backward from that date so there is no gap.
Reuse your existing evidence
Policies, audit records, incident logs, training records, and prior survey reports from your current body are valid evidence for ASF criteria wherever they genuinely demonstrate the same thing. You are not asked to recreate documentation that already exists and already works.
Choose Certification or Accreditation
Facilities in transition often start with ASF Certification (Silver) — the same tool and criteria at a lighter threshold, issued by a local partner where one exists, weeks to months to complete — then move to full Accreditation (Gold) when ready. Either pathway can run to close before your current credential expires.
Independent decision, published fee, public registry listing
The Accreditation Decision Committee decides independently of ASF operations. Your published, three-layer fee is confirmed before survey. Once awarded, your facility appears in ASF’s public registry immediately.
What ASF Asks For
- Your most recent survey report from your current or previous body, if you have one — helpful context, not a requirement.
- Any open corrective action plans — these are treated as evidence of active quality improvement, not a mark against you.
- Your current expiry date — the single most important piece of information for planning a gap-free transition.
There is no penalty for disclosing a past finding, a lapsed status, or an unresolved corrective action. ASF assesses your facility as it is today, against ASF’s own criteria.
Start Your Transition
Run the Free Self-Assessment
See the Accreditation Pathway
See the Certification Pathway
