Good governance is the key responsibility of governing bodies such as boards. It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that patients receive the standard of care defined by the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.

A governing body is a board, chief executive officer, organisation owner, partnership or other highest level of governance (individual or group) that has ultimate responsibility for delivering safe, reliable and high-quality health care.

There are eight standards and 148 actions in the second edition of the NSQHS Standards, compared with 10 standards and 256 actions in the first edition. Approximately 66 per cent of actions in the second edition relate directly to actions from the first edition. Similar or related actions have been merged together to reduce duplication and simplify compliance.