RACGP Standards for general practices
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has developed and owns the Standards for general practices. The RACGP Standards support Australian general practices to identify and address any gaps in their systems and processes and provide a template for quality care and risk management in Australian general practice. The RACGP Standards are developed by the profession, for the profession and aim to protect patients from harm by improving the quality, safety and care delivered by General Practices, Aboriginal Medical Services, Medical Deputising Services (MDS), After-Hours Services and the Royal Flying Doctor Services across Australia.
AGPAL accredits practices against the RACGP Standards as part of the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. The Scheme is governed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission), in collaboration with the RACGP.
AGPAL is Australia’s leading not-for-profit general practice accreditation provider with over 21 years' experience supporting the delivery of high quality and safe healthcare across the sector.
RACGP Standards 5th edition
The RACGP Standards are currently in their 5th edition, released in October 2017 after a three-year consultation period with general practitioners, practice managers, nurses, consumers and many other stakeholders.
AGPAL was the only accreditation body to participate in the large-scale pilot of the 5th edition Standards. This has provided AGPAL with unique insight into the application and interpretation of the 5th edition Standards to best support practice teams on their accreditation journey.
The RACGP Standards 5th edition follows a modular structure which places greater focus on outcomes and patient-centeredness, and comprise of:
- Module 1: Core Module
- Module 2: QI Module
- Module 3: Other Settings
The RACGP Standards cover a range of areas including:
- Practice services
- Right and need of patients
- Safety, quality improvement and education
- Practice management, and
- Physical factors of the general practices.