Accreditation is the assessment of a general practice against the requirements outlined in the Standards of General Practice written and published by the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP) 5th Edition Standards, as they are the benchmark for Australian practices.
How We Support General Practices with Accreditation
Our Practice Development team provide assistance to general practices going through accreditation or re-accreditation through visits, phone support and resource provision.
Practices are invited to attend events in various Western Sydney locations for infection control and sterilisation, cold chain management, triage and more.
To commence the process of gaining accreditation against the RACGP Standards, general practices should choose an accreditation agency that will be able to talk them through this process, explain what is required and support them throughout the process. It normally takes a practice between 12 to 18 months to prepare for their accreditation surveyor visit.
Accreditation is a requirement to be eligible for the Australian Government Practice Incentives Program (PIP).
There are many benefits to accreditation, including:
- The framework to focus on quality care and risk management.
- Access to the Commonwealth’s financial incentives programs – Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and Quality Incentive (QI).
- RACGP Accredited Continued Professional Development (CPD) Activity.
- Increased recognition from insurance providers.
- Reduced risks in service delivery.
- Improved practice efficiency.
- Improved patient safety and health outcomes.
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission), in collaboration with the RACGP, developed the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme, which commenced on 1 January 2017.
The National General Practice Accreditation Scheme:
- Provides greater choice for general practices seeking accreditation.
- Improves support programs for implementation of accreditation.
- Provides practices with access to national data on accreditation.
- Performance to enable benchmarking.
Practices undergoing accreditation need to ensure they use one of the approved accreditation agencies within Australia. There are four accreditation agencies that general practices can choose from to gain accreditation against the Standards. The contact details of these accreditation agencies are:
AGPAL Group of Companies
P: 1300 362 111
E: info@agpal.com.au
W: agpal.com.au
Global Mark Pty Ltd.
P: 9886 0222
E: Health@Global-Mark.com.au
W: global-mark.com.au
Quality Practice Accreditation
P: 1800 188 088 or (02) 6944 4042
E: info@qpa.health
W: QPA.health
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards
P: 9281 9955
E: achs@achs.org.au
W: achs.org.au
CPR training is available for health care professionals through the following service providers:
Numerous resources have been developed to support practices going through accreditation.
Practices are encouraged to contact their accreditation provider to learn about additional templates and proformas for your practice.
Support with Accreditation Queries
For more information or support on accreditation please contact our Helpdesk on 8811 7117 or email support@wentwest.com.au
Resources
Information is correct as of 21 November 2024.