The impact of accreditation on the quality of Australian health services

By ISQua EEA

March 4, 2024

We are pleased to announce that the WHO has now published the first in a series of action briefs on health care accreditation on their Health Services Learning Hub. Accreditation of healthcare organisations has become an important means of promoting safety and quality improvement internationally.

The action briefs published by the WHO outline how healthcare accreditation is being used to address quality of care within the context of health services strengthening in different countries around the globe.

One of the first published action briefs comes from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS). ACHS was established in 1974, and is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Since then, ACHS has developed standards for healthcare in partnership with government and other industry associations. They provide a range of accreditation programmes designed to improve overall quality of care in the sector. They are an authorised accrediting agency by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in health care and are the largest of the six (6) accreditation agencies operating in Australia. Council members include peak bodies in heath, representatives of government and consumers.

Australia has a long history of healthcare accreditation with its accreditation programme initially implemented in the hospital setting. The programme was driven by a series of landmark safety and quality studies and reviews which found that patients were not always receiving evidence-based hospital care. In their action brief, ACHS provide an overview of the Australian healthcare accreditation system and outline how it has been used to improve the quality of health services. They also outline key challenges encountered and how these were addressed.

Read the full action brief HERE.

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