Welcome to the first edition of Standards News – a quarterly newsletter bringing you important updates from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) on the Standards for general practices, related standards, accreditation news, resources and events.
We have introduced this newsletter to communicate the work of the RACGP Expert Committee – Standards for General Practices (REC-SGP) and Standards Business Unit to members, practice staff and any interested stakeholders. We welcome feedback and suggestions on what you would like to hear from us, and encourage you to share the newsletter among your networks. Anyone interested in receiving Standards News can register their interest here, or by emailing standards@racgp.org.au
The REC–SGP and its associated working groups have been busy developing three new sets of Standards over the past 18 months.
The new Standards for general practice residential aged care (Standards for GPRAC) have been developed for the first time to support and enhance the delivery of quality and safe general practitioner (GP) care to residents in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The Standards for GPRAC have been developed by the RACGP to align with the requirements of the Aged Care Quality Standards and in consultation with GPs, RACFs, practice managers, nurses, consumers, subject matter and technical experts, and many other stakeholders.
The second consultation for the Standards for GPRAC is now open, with no current closing date due to the COVID-19 restrictions limiting the ability to pilot the Standards for GPRAC. An end date for the consultation will be announced once activity commences again. We encourage all interested stakeholders to provide input.
The second editions of both the Standards for health services in Australian prisons (Prison Standards) and the Standards for health services in Australian immigration detention facilities (IDF Standards) are also well into development, each adapting the modular format of the Standards for general practices (5th edition). These sets of Standards support health professionals and their employer organisations to provide high quality healthcare to people in custodial or restricted settings.
All three sets of Standards in development aim to ensure that their respective patient populations are provided with safe, quality and culturally responsive care. While the onset of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 this year has meant a delay to piloting these Standards, the work on each project has progressed significantly and we are currently consulting with members and stakeholders on the current drafts that will be used for piloting once a COVID-19 recovery phase has commenced.
Thank you for your ongoing engagement in these and other Standards projects. We hope this newsletter keeps you up to date on our developments and look forward to bringing you regular future updates.