Yesterday some of the Ceartas team were through in Edinburgh for the awards ceremony to collect our EFQM Committed To Excellence award. Here it is, pictured alongside our Investors In People Certificate of Recognition, our Healthy Working Lives Bronze Award, and our See Me Pledge.

Ceartas achieved the award back in April after a self-assessment exercise, followed by creating and then implementing an action plan. The action plan aimed to improve quality of service in the organisation, but also make it possible to quantify changes in the level of quality of service. Following a successful site visit from Quality Scotland, including holding a focus group with staff, volunteers and service users, Ceartas successfully achieved the Committed To Excellence award.

But if you look at the fine print on the certificate, it is valid for two years. This means that before April 2015, Ceartas will have to demonstrate further service quality improvement, to show that our commitment to excellence is continuing and constantly improving.

As anyone who knows about Ceartas can tell you, Ceartas is a Gaelic word that means equality, justice and fairness: the values which we try to promote through our work. Now we are adding excellence to that list of values.