Around 80 per cent of General Practices in Australia undergo accreditation. The process requires practices to be assessed against the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards (5th edition) by an independent third party at least every three years, to gain ‘accredited’ status.

Accreditation uses a peer review model where surveyors must be actively involved in General Practice (including in the areas of practice management) and where at least one of the visiting surveyors is a general practitioner.

The RACGP states that achieving accreditation shows patients that your practice is committed to providing high quality, safe and effective care as determined by the general practice profession.

Why become accredited?

There are many benefits to becoming an accredited General Practice. Some of these include:

  • Recognition within the general practice community that your clinic is performing in accordance to best practice standards
  • Proven framework for Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance in General Practice
  • Improving practice efficiency and the practice environment
  • Measure how the practice is performing in relation to general practice benchmarks
  • The opportunity to reflect on what’s working well at a practice level and identify areas for improvement
  • Access funding from the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) and the Workforce Incentive Payment (WIP).

Accreditation agencies

These organisations often allocate a support contact to practices undergoing accreditation with them. Make sure you contact your support contact so you can learn about additional resources, support services and information these organisations may offer.

As the RACGP Standards are comprehensive, it is unlikely that all components will be reviewed during the three-yearly accreditation visit. However, your accreditation provider will provide a checklist of areas that are considered essential that are always checked as part of the accreditation visit. You should use this checklist to review what procedures or documentation you may still need to compile to be ready for your survey visit. You can also allocate the responsibility for certain activities to different staff in your practice.

The following agencies are approved to assess general practices to the RACGP Standards for general practices.

AGPAL Group of Companies

Incorporating Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL) and Quality Innovation Performance Limited (QIP)

P.O. Box 2058, Milton BC, QLD 4064

Tel: 1300 362 111

Email: info@agpal.com.au

Global Mark Pty Ltd

Suite 4.07, 32 Delhi Road, North Ryde, NSW 2113 

Tel: 1300 766 509 or 02 9886 0222


Essential components of accreditation

  • Policy and procedure manual development and updates

    A Policy and Procedure Manual is a great resource to ensure practice processes are documented and their implementation is consistent across staff members. A good manual is a valuable reference and training tool so it is important to ensure this is kept up to date.

    There should be a formal review of the manual every three years, however, it is a good idea to revisit key policies and procedures on a yearly basis and offer staff an opportunity to offer their input.

  • Templates and practice forms

    Numerous resources have been developed to support practices going through accreditation. Contact your accreditation provider to learn about additional templates and proformas for your practice.

  • Patient feedback

    Patient feedback is a great way to measure patient satisfaction with the service and health care your practice provides. Continual and ongoing feedback enables this feedback to shape improvements in the quality of services provided.

    RACGP accreditation standards require practices to conduct one patient survey every three years. Practices can select from the following approved validated questionnaire providers:

  • Self-assessment questionnaire and visit preparation

    In order to assist a practice to prepare for the accreditation survey visit, all accreditation bodies provide self-assessments, templates, resources checklists and even web-based training. 

    Contact your accreditation provider to find out what support is available and what steps may be required prior to your survey visit.

  • On-site visit and accreditation audit

    The onsite visit will usually take place every three years. The visit length will vary depending on the size of the clinic and how many doctors/staff will need to be interviewed. During the visit, the clinic should remain open to the public so surveyors can witness usual practice operations.

    For more information on what will be involved as part of your survey visit, contact your accreditation provider.

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