The Commission developed the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards to drive the implementation and use of safety and quality systems and improve the quality of health service provision in Australia.
The NSQHS Standards focus on areas that are essential to improving patient safety and quality of care and include:
- Governance for Safety and Quality in Health Service Organisations
- Partnering with Consumers
- Preventing and Controlling Healthcare Associated Infections
- Medication Safety
- Patient Identification and Procedure Matching
- Clinical Handover
- Blood and Blood Products
- Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries
- Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration in Acute Health Care
- Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls
The NSQHS Standards provide a nationally consistent statement of the level of care consumers should be able to expect from health services.
The NSQHS Standards were selected because they address areas where:
- The impact is on a large number of patients
- There is a known gap between the current situation and best practice outcomes, and
- Improvement strategies exist that are evidence based and achievable.
The NSQHS Standards were developed in consultation and collaboration with jurisdictions, technical experts and a wide range of stakeholders, including health professionals and consumers. Consultation on the NSQHS Standards has involved:
- Consultation on the content of the Standards
- Drafting of the Standards in conjunction with technical experts and key stakeholders
- Initial testing and validation of the NSQHS Standards by the Commission’s committees and working groups
- A call for public submissions, focus group meetings with consumers, meetings with industry groups and accrediting agencies
- Piloting the Standards in health services.
National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (PDF 3731 KB)
The September 2011 NSQHS Standards were endorsed by Australian Health Ministers as the final version. The amendments required for the June 2011 version to be current are listed in the following document.
Amendments to the June 2011 version of the NSQHS Standards (Word 41 KB)
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