Accreditation
National review of accreditation
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) have been requested by Health Ministers to undertake a review of safety and quality accreditation arrangements in Australia and to propose an alternative model for both the public and private sectors.
A set of ten National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards and an associated Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation (AHSSQA) Scheme have been drafted and piloted by the ACSQHC and will be presented to Health Ministers in mid-2011. Please see the ACSQHC website for more detail.
If approved by Health Ministers the NSQHS Standards will become mandatory for all high risk* health services nationally. The ACSQHC has indicated that an implementation transition period will occur from 1 July 2011 to 1 Jan 2013, after which time all high risk services will require to be accredited against the NSQHS Standards.
WA Health is currently working with the ACSQHC, as part of their Regulator’s Working Group, to make decisions regarding the implementation of the AHSSQA Scheme.
If you would like more information on the current status of this issue within WA Health, please contact the Office of Safety & Quality in Healthcare on (08) 9222 4080.
What is accreditation?
- Accreditation is a formal process by which a recognised accreditation body assesses whether a health care organisation meets a set of agreed healthcare standards.
- Nationally and in Western Australia, the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) is the largest healthcare accreditation body.
- ACHS is an independant, not-for-profit organisation and is funded primarily from its membership base.
- The ACHS is comprised approximately of 58% of members from the public sector and 42% of members from the private sector.
Why is accreditation done?
Meeting accreditation standards provides assurance to consumers and health service management that those services are safe and of a high quality.
Who is responsible?
- Participation in an accreditation program is voluntary for public hospitals in Western Australia. However, the majority engage in an accreditation program because of a strong committment to quality improvement.
- In WA private hospitals are required to meet minimum standards in order to be licensed under the Hospitals and Health Services Act 1927. In addition, the vast majority of private hospitals are required to participate in accreditation programs or to maintain accreditation as a condition of funding.
When is accreditation done?
The core ACHS accreditation program is the Evaluation and Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP), launched in 1996. EQuIP member organisations are guided by the ACHS through the four-year cycle of self assessment, organisation-wide survey and periodic review to meet ACHS standards.
Please contact your local hospital or health service for information on their particular accreditation cycle.
Resources
The following are examples of safety and quality frameworks in use within WA health sites (public and private). Please contact the health sites directly for information about these resources.
- WACHS Goldfields Safety Quality & Risk Framework (staff intranet required)
- Osborne Park Hospital Safety & Quality Framework (staff intranet required)
- Mercy Hospital Quality Improvement & Risk Management Framework (staff intranet required)
File Formats
Some documents for download on this website are in a Portable Document Format (PDF). To read these files you might need to download Adobe® Acrobat Reader.
Last updated: April 2011