Health Service Accreditation

This page provides an overview on Health Service Accreditation

Overview

Organisations within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health sector have increasingly demonstrated a willingness to undertake quality improvement and accreditation processes. Furthermore, the 2007-08 Budget measure ‘A Better Future for Indigenous Australians – Establishing Quality Health Standards’ (EQHS) provides funding until 30 June 2011 for various support initiatives to help eligible Indigenous health organisations to become accredited under Australian health care standards.

This website will introduce you to the initiatives being rolled out by OATSIH to assist eligible organisations prepare for and achieve accreditation.

The initiatives that will support organisations achieve accreditation are:

• One-on-one expert assistance provided by a specialist accreditation facilitator accessed from a panel of OATSIH Quality Improvement and Accreditation Facilitators
• Accreditation Support Grants to help organisations to address barriers to accreditation;
• Local Support at the national and jurisdictional level provided by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled peak bodies;
• Access to various training options through the Training and Development Scheme, either short-term courses to support accreditation or longer-term non-clinical training (from July 2009); and
• Access to various activities provided through the OATSIH National Quality Network.

Eligibility for Accreditation Support

Eligibility is determined on a case by case basis, but generally eligible organisations are those that receive the majority of their recurrent funding for health service delivery, as their core business, from OATSIH including:

• Primary health care service providers;
• Substance use service providers; and
• Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) service providers, including Link-up services and Bringing them Home (BTH) counselling services.

OATSIH-funded advocacy organisations are also eligible.

To find out if your organisation is eligible, please contact the OATSIH Accreditation Information Line on 1800 723 676.

Accreditation Requirements

Organisations should, in the first instance, address their clinical operations. For example, organisations providing general practice care should pursue accreditation against Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) standards.

Other types of service delivery may be accredited through an alternative accreditation framework. For example, Quality Improvement Council (QIC) modules addressing Home Based Care services, Social and Emotional Wellbeing services, Substance Use services and others.

Organisations that obtain clinical or other service delivery accreditation will be supported to work towards organisational accreditation, for example, through the QIC or International Standards Organisations (ISO) or the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), as appropriate to their organisation.

Organisations should contact the relevant accreditation agencies for advice on their eligibility for accreditation under specific frameworks.

Contacts

OATSIH
Phone the OATSIH Accreditation Information Line on 1800 723 676
Email: OATSIHqualityenquiries@health.gov.au