Launched today by Minister for Health and Aged Care, The Hon Greg Hunt MP, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care's (the Commission) National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards aim to protect Australians from harm and improve the quality of health care that people receive in these settings.
The new standards provide a framework that can be applied to a broad range of healthcare services such as dental practices, allied health services (optometry, audiology, podiatry and physiotherapy), Chinese medicine clinics, community health services and skin clinics, to name a few.
The primary healthcare* sector is a significant part of Australia's healthcare industry, accounting for more than one-third (34%) or $63.4 billion of Australia's total health expenditure in 2017−18. (i)
Commission Chief Medical Officer, Conjoint Professor Anne Duggan, says the new standards will provide a clear framework for healthcare services across the sector to deliver safe health care.
"The National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards will be a game changer for the health sector in Australia, by giving practitioners the tools to be even better," she said.
"In time, Australians will have confidence that when they visit a primary or community healthcare service accredited to the standards, they are receiving safe and high-quality health care – no matter the type of health service they are using or where they access it.
"Each year, most Australians will visit a primary or community healthcare service in their local area. It is vital that these patients can trust the quality of care they receive and know they will be safe from harm."
The Primary and Community Healthcare Standards comprise three key standards: Clinical Governance Standard, Partnering with Consumers Standard and Clinical Safety Standard – each with different elements to be implemented by healthcare services.
Professor Duggan explained: "The new standards describe elements shared by all safe, high-quality healthcare services. That is, they should be well-managed, ensure that people who use their service will be safe from harm, and enable patients to be partners in their own health care and to know their opinion is valued by the healthcare professional.
"Australia has had nationally consistent standards in hospitals and day procedure services for 10 years. Since then, the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards have led to significant improvements in patient safety. In time, we expect these new standards to lead to improvements in health care provided by primary and community services," she said.
The new standards have the support of the Australian Government Chief Allied Health Officer, Dr Anne-marie Boxall, who has encouraged the sector to find out
