Quality is not a hospital concept.
It is a patient concept.
An urban polyclinic in a middle-income country. A primary care centre in a rural district. A health post in a humanitarian setting. Different resources. Different contexts. The same patients. The same right to verified quality.
facility contexts served
quality domains — every context
from / month — rural & camp
certificate from membership start
One framework.
Every context.
Primary healthcare facilities are the first point of contact between a patient and the health system. They are also the most diverse category of healthcare provider in the world — ranging from well-resourced urban polyclinics with specialists in every department to a single-room health post staffed by two nurses serving a displacement camp.
What they share is more important than what separates them. The patient cannot always choose their provider. An outpatient error has no inpatient safety net. The referral relationship with hospitals depends on documented quality. And no international accreditation framework has ever been designed at their scale and for their context.
ASF’s primary care and ambulatory accreditation programme is built on a single principle: the standard is the same everywhere. What adapts is how evidence is collected — calibrated to what is actually achievable in each setting.
- Patients who cannot always choose their provider
- No inpatient safety net if an outpatient error is made
- A referral relationship with hospitals that depends on documented quality
- Staff without the institutional infrastructure of a hospital
- No international accreditation framework built for their context
- A structured quality framework adapted to resource level
- Patient council and feedback infrastructure
- Staff training and portable credentials
- An internationally recognised certificate from day one
- Accountability to patients, donors, and payers
The same principles apply everywhere.
The evidence adapts to reality.
ASF does not lower the standard for under-resourced settings. It builds the infrastructure that makes the standard achievable in that context — and then holds the facility to it.
The well-resourced clinic that deserves international recognition.
A multi-specialist outpatient centre in a city. Likely already meeting many standards informally. The accreditation gap here is documentation, patient feedback systems, and international visibility.
For urban polyclinics, accreditation opens doors to international patient markets, insurance contracts, and referral partnerships with major hospitals.
- Full indicator set with digital reporting
- Quarterly patient council meetings
- International certificate & public listing
- Training Passport for every staff member
The clinic serving populations with no alternative.
Under-staffed, under-equipped, and under-supported — but carrying real responsibility for real patients. The quality gap here is genuine, and the consequences fall entirely on people who cannot go elsewhere.
ASF provides a structured quality framework adapted to resource constraints, without requiring staff or systems that do not exist.
- Simplified indicator set, paper-acceptable
- Bi-annual patient council minimum
- Staff training & portable credentials
- Referral pathway documentation
The clinic in a displacement setting. The NGO health post in a conflict-affected area.
These facilities care for some of the world’s most vulnerable patients — often with the fewest resources, the least oversight, and the highest stakes. A patient in a displacement camp is not a lesser patient.
ASF’s framework has been tested in countries with limited health system infrastructure. It does not require stable supply chains or functioning national health authority oversight. It requires commitment to a process.
- Minimum viable indicator set for crisis context
- NGO-adapted documentation
- Portable staff credentials across organisations
- Donor accountability & QR-verified certificate
ASF position on humanitarian accreditation
Four domains. Every facility. Every context.
The ASF standard covers four domains in every facility it accredits — hospital or clinic, urban or camp. What changes is how evidence is collected and what thresholds apply to the context.
Patient Safety
Medication safety, infection control, triage protocols, referral pathways, emergency response. Assessed at the level of rigor appropriate to the facility’s resource context.
Clinical Quality
Care pathway adherence, chronic disease management, maternal and child health protocols, diagnostic accuracy. Evidence requirements scale to available infrastructure.
Management & Governance
Leadership, staff records, complaint management, financial transparency, incident reporting. For NGO-run facilities: adapted to humanitarian coordination structures and donor reporting.
Community Accountability
Patient council, feedback mechanism, public reporting. For low-literacy contexts: QR-based feedback adapted for voice and image input. For camp settings: integrated with community health worker networks.
- Full indicator set
- Digital reporting
- Quarterly patient council
- Annual survey + mid-year review
- Simplified indicator set
- Paper-acceptable reporting
- Bi-annual patient council
- Annual survey
- Minimum viable indicators
- NGO-adapted documentation
- Integration with community health worker networks
- Crisis-adjusted timelines
What every primary care membership includes.
Patient council convened at context-appropriate frequency. For camp settings: integrated with community health worker networks and humanitarian coordination structures.
QR-based feedback channel — adapted for low-literacy contexts where needed. Results reviewed by ASF monthly, reported publicly. Every complaint receives a written response.
ASF Training Passport for every staff member. In humanitarian settings, certificates are portable across organisations and countries — staff carry their verified record with them.
The relationship with the referral hospital is a core quality indicator for primary care. ASF maps and monitors this relationship as part of accreditation — formally, with documented outcomes.
Stock management, cold chain (where applicable), prescription protocols. In camp settings: adapted to NGO supply chain structures and humanitarian logistics realities.
An ASF surveyor assesses the facility against its agreed work plan — a working session, not an audit. Progress is documented. The certificate is renewed based on evidence of continuous improvement.
Pricing adapts to context.
The standard does not.
- Full indicator set, digital reporting
- Quarterly patient council
- Annual survey + mid-year review
- Training Passport — all staff
- International certificate & public listing
- Simplified indicator set, paper-acceptable
- Bi-annual patient council
- Annual survey
- Training Passport — all staff
- Certificate & public listing
- Minimum viable indicator set
- NGO-adapted documentation
- Portable staff credentials
- Donor accountability certificate
All prices exclude VAT. Country programme pricing available for cohorts of 3+ facilities. Humanitarian programme pricing set in consultation with operating NGO or coordinating body.
Tell us your context.
We will tell you what fits.
Urban polyclinic, rural health centre, or a clinic in a camp — we want to understand your situation before we propose anything. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
