National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (first edition)
This document presents the first edition of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards released in September 2012.
The NSQHS Standards were developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care in consultation and collaboration with jurisdictions, technical experts and a wide range of stakeholders, including health professionals and patients. The primary aims of the NSQHS Standards are:
- To protect the public from harm
- To improve the quality of health service provision.
They provide a quality assurance mechanism that tests whether relevant systems are in place to ensure minimum standards of safety and quality are met, and a quality improvement mechanism that allows health services to realise aspirational or developmental goals.
Accreditation is recognised as an important driver for safety and quality improvement, and Australia’s health accreditation processes are highly regarded internationally. The NSQHS Standards are integral to the accreditation process as they determine how and against what a health service organisation’s performance will be assessed. Health service organisations can use the NSQHS Standards as part of their internal quality assurance mechanisms or as part of an external accreditation process
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