General practice accreditation in Australia: Data from 2010–2021

Summary

Summary

Accreditation is important for assuring and improving the quality and safety of healthcare. General practice accreditation is voluntary in Australia. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), in collaboration with The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), developed the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme to oversee the consistent assessment of Australian general practices against the RACGP Standards for general practices (5th edition) (the Standards). This paper describes the uptake of accreditation in Australia between 2010 and 2021.

The information presented in this paper is based on quantitative analysis of the primary and community health data provided as part of the Australian Government’s Productivity Commission 2022 Report on government services (RoGS).

We found that:

  • the number and proportion of accredited general practices in Australia increased over a 10-year period from 2010–2019 (with data on practice numbers in 2020 and 2021 unavailable)
  • variability in the proportion of accredited general practices in each state and territory decreased over the same period
  • the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) general practitioners (GPs) increased during the same period, as did the number of FTE GPs per 100,000 people
  • there was convergence of market share between the agencies that provide independent general practice accreditation.
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