Contact
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact the Commission’s QUM Customer Service team at QUMCustomerService@safetyandquality.gov.au
Quality Use of Medicines Stewardship program
From 1 January 2023, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) became the custodian of a range of Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) functions, expanding our role in QUM stewardship. This follows the redesign of the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology (QUDTP) Program outlined in the 2022–23 Federal Budget.
Status updates for each function can be found below. These will be regularly updated.
Overview
QUM stewardship seeks to foster the appropriate, safe and effective use of medicines. Guided by the National Medicines Policy and the National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines, the Commission promotes QUM stewardship by collecting data and reporting on the quality use of medicines, developing national guidance, and generating cross sector engagement on the appropriate use of therapeutics, diagnostics and pathology.
This is an extension of the Commission’s existing Medication Safety program and complements previous QUM work including the National Indicators for Quality Use of Medicines in Australian Hospitals, the National Baseline Report on Quality Use of Medicines and Medicines Safety – Phase 1 Residential aged care, and the national guiding principles for medication management.
The Commission works in partnership with patients, carers, clinicians, the Australian, state and territory health systems, the private sector, managers and healthcare organisations to achieve a safe, high-quality and sustainable health system, including through QUM stewardship.
Key functions of the Commission include: developing national safety and quality standards, developing clinical care standards to improve the implementation of evidence-based health care, coordinating work in specific areas to improve outcomes for patients, and providing information, publications and resources about safety and quality.
The QUM programs and services that transitioned to the Commission, following the program redesign, are listed below.