Transition Arrangements for ISO Certified Health Service Organisations

The Australian Health Service Safety and Quality Accreditation (AHSSQA) Scheme commences on 1 January 2013 with the introduction of the NSQHS Standards. For health service organisations to remain certified to the JAS-ANZ Core Standards for Safety and Quality in Health Care for the full 3 year period, they must currently meet the requirements of the Core Standards at the initial certification visit and then continue to meet these requirements at each of the subsequent surveillance audits.

For this to be possible and for health service organisations to be accredited to the NSQHS Standards, organisations will be assessed to Standards 1, 2, and 3 at each surveillance audit after 1 January 2013. This arrangement can continue until the first scheduled re-certification after 1 January 2013, at which time the organisation will need to meet all 10 NSQHS Standards for re-certification.

During the transition period, assessment to Standards 1, 2 and 3 of the NSQHS Standards alone will not meet the requirements for ongoing certification to the JAS-ANZ Core Standards for Safety and Quality in Health Care. For organisations to remain certified to the Core Standards there are a small number of additional specified items which will be assessed only once in the certification cycle during surveillance audits. These items are detailed in Table 1.

All specified items are to be assessed once during a certification cycle. Certifying bodies may assess half these items at each surveillance visit, or all during one visit. This will depend on where an organisation is in its current certification cycle and which standards were assessed at the last surveillance visit.

Table 1: Specified Items

Cores / Specified items
Core Standard 1, No. 3
Policies, protocols and procedures to facilitate effective management of the equipment, staff and infrastructure. For example fire systems, food administration, occupational health and safety and others as applicable. / Certifying bodies specifically are to assess:
·  fire systems
·  food administration, and
·  occupational health and safety
Core Standard 1, No. 4
A system to ensure appropriate maintenance of biomedical and general medical equipment. / Certifying bodies specifically are to assess:
·  systems for maintenance of biomedical and general medical equipment
Core Standard 3, No. 1,3,4,5
Ensure compliance with best available practice guidelines including, but not exclusive to:
1.  Quality use of Medicines
2.  Falls Prevention
4.  Blood products, tissue transplantation and prosthetic implants
5.  Correct site surgery / Certifying bodies specifically are to assess use of guidelines for:
·  Quality use of Medicines
·  Falls Prevention
·  Blood products, tissue transplantation and prosthetic implants
·  Correct site surgery
Core Standard 4, No.3
That clinical and non-clinical staff have their performance monitored and systems are in place to continuously review and improve performance. Peer review mechanisms are also utilised. / Certifying bodies specifically are to assess:
·  performance monitoring systems for non-clinical staff

For more information please contact the Advice Centre.

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Updated 5 November 2012