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Health Service Accreditation

Establishing Quality Health Standards (EQHS) Newsletter No.5

This page provides a PDF and HTML version of the EQHS newsletter 5th edition.

PDF printable version: EQHS Newsletter 5 - November 2009 - February 2010 (PDF 508 KB)

November 2009 - February 2010 Edition

Welcome

Welcome to 2010 and to the fifth edition of the Establishing Quality Health Standards (EQHS) Sector Newsletter. We aim to keep you informed and up to date on all activities relating to EQHS around Australia.

Congratulations to the seven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations who have recently achieved accreditation. A special congratulations page highlighting the achievements of these organisations is included in this newsletter. Also featured is an article from Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Clinic who recently achieved dual accreditation against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Quality Improvement Council (QIC) standards.

In this edition, you can read about the recent incentive available to Indigenous health providers via the Practice Incentive Program (PIP), and the new Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co-payment incentive - making medicines cheaper for eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Other articles include information on the soon to be released OATSIH Accreditation Manual and the unveiling of the EQHS promotional mugs. Please take special note of the recent updates to the Accreditation Support Grant (ASG) Guidelines and Application Forms. There are only two more ASG funding rounds remaining. The new Application Forms are available on the web and need to be used for these remaining rounds.

As always we thank everyone who has shared their experiences with the Sector, and to all those who have worked to deliver such high quality care to the community.

News Flash - Cut-off date for Facilitator Engagement

Please note - Facilitator Selection Forms will only be accepted up until 31 August 2010. This date is set to align with the last ASG Round which closes on 15 September 2010. If you want to access support through the EQHS Facilitator Panel, please submit a Facilitator Selection Form prior to this date. Keep in mind if demand is high that Facilitators may not be able to schedule you in for an initial review against the accreditation standards in time for the last two ASG Rounds. So get your forms in early. Organisations with pre-existing approved Facilitator engagements can continue to access the available days of Facilitator support until 30 June 2011.

For further information on the accreditation support available please visit http://www.health.gov.au/OATSIHaccreditation or call the OATSIH Accreditation Information Line on 1800 723 676.

Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service

Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service is located in Canberra, ACT. Winnunga is pleased to announce that they were recently successful in being accredited by QMS (under the QIC standards). We also were re-accredited by AGPAL (under the RACGP standards) in December. It is a great achievement and the Board and staff are thrilled to have this recognition after working for some years now towards achieving excellence at all levels of the organisation. Winnunga prides itself on being a service constantly striving to achieve best practice standards. We believe that achieving this has been very well facilitated by having frameworks such as the RACGP and QIC standards to guide us.

We are especially proud of the commendations provided by the auditors in the area of our policies – the AGPAL auditors have stated that our policies are the best they have seen - and the QMS auditors
commended our Human Resource Management and provision of continuing education to staff – (Winnunga has a comprehensive program including on-line education through HealthStaffEd.com.au). Achieving what we have is part of our commitment to ongoing quality improvement. We have seen so many improvements as a result of this. We see improvements especially in client outcomes evidence through our data collection and analysis program.

One of the significant aspects of achieving accreditation has been the involvement of staff in all aspects of the initiatives. The changes we have made have not always been easy but have resulted in us becoming a stronger, more sustainable service delivering the highest standards of care in a culturally appropriate environment.

OATSIH funded Winnunga to write and publish the small book ‘The Experience of One Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service in Achieving Quality Improvement through Accreditation’.

If you would like to know more about our journey please email Kacey.Boyd@winnunga.org.au and request a copy.
Julie Tongs, Chief Executive Officer Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service

Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Payments

The new PIP Indigenous Health Incentive supports general practices and Indigenous health organisations to provide better health care for Indigenous Australians, including best practice management of chronic disease. This incentive is a key part of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Chronic Disease Package. First payments will be made to eligible practices in May 2010.

To participate in this incentive, practices need to be registered for the PIP. To register, services must be accredited, or registered for accreditation, against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for general practices. The PIP Indigenous Health Incentive will have three components: Sign-on payment: a one-off payment of $1000 to practices that join the incentive and agree to undertake specified activities to improve the provision of care to their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients with a chronic disease.

Patient registration payment: $250 for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patient aged 15 years and over, registered with the practice for chronic disease management in a calendar year.
Outcomes payment:

Tier 1 - $100 to practices for each registered patient for whom a target level of care is provided by the practice in a calendar year
Tier 2 - $150 to practices for each registered patient for whom the majority of care is provided by the practice within a calendar year.

For further information please visit: www.medicareaustralia.gov.au . This information is linked under the following path >For health professionals > Incentives and Allowances > Practice Incentives Program (PIP) > New PIP Indigenous Health Incentive, email pip@medicareaustralia.gov.au or phone the PIP enquiry line on 1800 222 032.

New Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Co-payment Measure

A new PBS Co-payment Measure means many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients will be eligible for cheaper PBS medicines. Patients can be registered for this measure from March 2010, with the Measure starting 1 July 2010. Participating patients with a concession card will not pay a co-payment, and general patients will only pay the concessional co-payment. For more information on the PBS Co-payment Measure visit: PBS-Indigenous@health.gov.au or phone the PBS helpline on 1800 020 613.

Congratulations!!

Since our last newsletter to you in October 2009, the following organisations have achieved accreditation under EQHS.

Albury Wodonga Aboriginal Health Service Incorporated (NSW)	RACGP - Re-accreditation
Condobolin Aboriginal Health Service Incorporated (NSW)	RACGP - New accreditation
Njernda Aboriginal Corporation (VIC)	RACGP - Re-accreditation
Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Clinic/Health Service Incorporated (ACT)	RACGP - Re-accreditation & QIC – New accreditation
Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (NSW)	RACGP - Re-accreditation & QIC – New accreditation
Mawarnkarra Health Service Aboriginal Corporation (WA)	RACGP - New accreditation
Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation (NT)	RACGP - Re-accreditation

*RACGP - Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
*QIC - Quality Improvement Council

OATSIH Accreditation Manual - Soon to be released!

The OATSIH Accreditation Manual will be published soon. The Manual is intended to demystify accreditation processes for organisations pursuing accreditation under the EQHS Budget measure. The Manual has drawn on contributions from Aboriginal community controlled health organisations that have already travelled the road to accreditation, in the hope that organisations starting out on the journey will benefit from their experiences. The Manual covers key aspects of accreditation and accreditation processes, including support available under the EQHS Budget measure.

Training & Development Scheme (TDS) News

The TDS aims to enhance the capacity and culture of continuous quality improvement of eligible OATSIH funded Indigenous health organisations, through support for staff to undertake training and development courses.

Northern Territory General Practice Education Limited (NTGPE) which administers the TDS has had a rewarding year looking after TDS participants from all over Australia. TDS Coordinator, Kym Phillips, says that enthusiasm for this project has been fantastic. This is evidenced by the following feedback from a nurse manager completing a Diploma of Management:

“When OATSIH announced that there was funding available for managers to study at an educational institution to further their management skills and knowledge, I was very keen to apply. ……although I had learnt quite a lot on the job, there was a lot more that I needed to know.”

“Applying was daunting but Kym Phillips, the project coordinator…., encouraged the numerous phone calls to assist me complete the forms. She was very helpful and always so cheery on the phone.”

“Participating in the classroom with the other students was a great learning experience but the big high in the study was getting the assignments back and having a pass mark on them.”

“The knowledge that I gained was just what I needed and I think that all the Nurse Managers of OATSIH funded remote Aboriginal Medical Services should do this course. It would give them such insight and knowledge on running the services more efficiently plus confidence and knowledge to handle staff and personal issues more effectively.

“Thanks OATSIH for funding a great course.”

TDS Update

There are 68 participants in TDS as at 10 February 2010. Please note that funding round 4 for Long Term Stream applications opens 29 March 2010 and closes 14 May 2010. See www.tds.org.au for details.

State/Territory	Number of Approved TDS Participants
NSW	6
NT	33
QLD	5
SA	7
VIC	4
WA	13
Total	68

Promotional activities and the EQHS mugs

OATSIH has produced a limited number of EQHS promotional mugs - to keep accreditation on everyone’s lips (excuse the pun!). These are being distributed through NACCHO and Affiliates – while stocks last! We would like to say a huge thank you to Roy Monaghan of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) for coming up with the mug tag line "You'd have to be a mug not to be accredited!" Roy is pictured below holding one of the mugs. OATSIH also has a small quantity of mugs, so contact us on 1800 723 676 if you’d like us to send one out to you. Get in early though – before they run out!

Interpretive Guides Update

The RACGP and QIC Interpretive Guides are now nearing completion. These Guides are intended to interpret RACGP and QIC standards as they apply in an Aboriginal community controlled health setting, and to help organisations prepare for accreditation under these standards. Thanks to everyone in the sector who has helped in their development by providing valuable input and feedback. To assist in the implementation of the Guides, NACCHO and Affiliates are working with the RACGP, QIC and OATSIH to organise training to support their release. This training will take place at workshops to be held in each State and Territory early 2010. The workshops will also provide a great opportunity for organisations to get together to look at other issues affecting quality improvement and accreditation in the sector. Organisations will be advised of dates for the workshops in the near future.

Updated Accreditation Support Grant (ASG) Guidelines and Form

OATSIH has recently updated the ASG Guidelines and Application Form to help improve organisations’ understanding of what is required to apply for ASGs. Some of the key changes are:

• Organisations are now required to be registered for accreditation with an approved assessing agency within two months of receiving ASG funds.
• Directing organisations to the Training and Development Scheme for most training requests.
• Clarifying costs that will not be funded include recurrent items such as disposable items, ongoing Information Technology (IT) costs, subscriptions, major capital works and expansion activities.
• Adding questions to address requests for IT items, medical equipment or minor capital works, to expedite the evaluation process.

The updated ASG Guidelines and Form can be found on the Department of Health and Ageing website, www.health.gov.au/OATSIHaccreditation.

Accreditation Support Grant (ASG) Update

Round Three of the ASG Applications resulted in funding of a wide range of items approved to help overcome barriers to accreditation under clinical or organisational standards. These included accreditation fees, medical and IT equipment, as well as some staff backfilling to give staff time to develop quality processes and procedures for their organisations.

Round Four of the ASGs closed on 2 February and is being assessed. The next ASG Round closes on Thursday, 1 April 2010 with funding for that Round to be provided in the next financial year to approved applicants.

See the article in this newsletter on the updated ASG Guidelines and Form and remember to use the new Form next time and to send your application to your OATSIH Project Officer in your State or Territory.

Facilitator Update

As at 26 February 2010, 111 organisations have engaged a Facilitator for accreditation support (65 in 2008/09 & 46 so far for 2009/10) under EQHS. The table below provides a state by state breakdown for 2009-10.

Eleven organisations have accessed a second round of facilitator support for accreditation under a different framework.

State/Territory	Number of organisations that have engaged a Facilitator
NSW	9
NT	14
QLD	14
SA	3
VIC	1
WA	5
Total	46

Accreditation Support Grants – Only Two Rounds Remaining

2009 – 10 Funding Round
Round 5: Applications close 5.00 pm EST Thursday 1 April 2010
2010 – 11 Funding Round
Round 6: Applications close 5.00 pm EST Wednesday 15 September 2010.

For a copy of the Accreditation Support Grant Guidelines and Application Form please visit: www.health.gov.au/OATSIHaccreditation

Please note: The next ASG Round closes Thursday 1 April 2010

If you are interested in participating in accreditation and/or would like to find out more about EQHS, please contact OATSIH by email: OATSIHqualityenquiries@health.gov.au or phone: 1800 723 676

Q&A Section Contacts

Team Responsibilities	Contacts	Phone
Director	Sunita Dhindsa	02 6289 7569
Team Leader National Quality Network Activities Local Accreditation Support (Affiliates)	Wendy Richardson Claire Clack Melinda Ingram	02 6289 7172 02 6289 3932 02 6289 1269
Team Leader Facilitators Accreditation Support Grants Training and Development Scheme STO & Sector Newsletter	Thilani Mulrine Giselle De Ruyter Giorgina Williams Jessica Hales	02 6289 7781 02 6289 4667 02 6289 8155 02 6289 6808
Team Leader EQHS Evaluation Continuous Quality Improvement & accreditation policy State & Territory Government Liaison	Rebecca Hosemans Aurysia Hii Brian Whitton	02 6289 4967 02 6289 4423 02 6289 8918