Summary
Date: 19 November 2020
The Australian Commission on Quality and Safety in Health Care (the Commission) released its draft National Safety and Quality Primary Healthcare Standards (NSQPH Standards) for consultation in October 2020. The NSQPH Standards present an identical framework for all primary healthcare settings, including general practice, which discount the variation and nuances of each primary healthcare area to which they apply. The RACGP Standards for general practices address a range of areas essential for safety and quality in general practice that are missing in the NSQPH Standards.
The RACGP has responded to the Commission's consultation to:
- stress that profession led standards are already in place for any service that meets the RACGP’s definition of a general practice and that the NSQPH Standards are not applicable to those health services
- note areas covered in the RACGP Standards that are missing in the NSQPH Standards
- provide general feedback on NSQPH Standards.