About the Clinical Care Standards

Clinical Care Standards are developed by the Commission to address high priority areas for quality improvement based on evidence of unwarranted variation.

Find out about the Clinical Care Standards program and how the standards are developed and reviewed.

Introduction

A clinical care standard describes the care that patients can expect to be offered by clinicians and healthcare services for a specific clinical condition, treatment, procedure or clinical pathway, regardless of where they are treated in Australia.

Clinical care standards aim to address unwarranted variation in health care or patient outcomes by increasing evidence-based healthcare. Unlike clinical guidelines, they focus on priority aspects of care

Clinical care standards contain:

Quality statements describing the care that a patient should be offered, regardless of where they are treated in Australia
Information for patients, clinicians and healthcare services about what each statement means
Indicators to help clinicians and healthcare services monitor the care described in the clinical care standard and to support local quality improvement

Each clinical care standard is supported by implementation resources for consumers, clinicians, and health services, and in some cases, for Primary Health Networks (PHNs).

Development of clinical care standards

When selecting topics for clinical care standard development, the Commission is guided by national data on current clinical practice and areas of unwarranted variation, advice from its advisory committees, and consideration of the following factors:

Potential to reduce unwarranted variation in care
Availability of high quality, current clinical practice guidelines, standards or evidence available for a clinical practice area
Opportunities to take action to reduce the risk of harm and improve clinical outcomes and experiences for consumers
Potential to measure improvements in clinical outcomes
Priorities for the Commission and its key stakeholders.

In developing the clinical care standards, the Commission uses the most up-to-date clinical guidelines and standards, information about gaps between evidence and practice, the professional expertise of clinicians and researchers, and perspectives of consumers.

Each clinical care standard is developed by a topic working group who consider the most current evidence, have expertise and knowledge of the issues affecting the appropriate delivery of care, and issues that are important to consumers.

Stakeholder involvement

The Commission consults with stakeholders in a number of ways during the development of clinical care standards.

Topic Working Groups

The Commission develops each clinical care standard with advice from a multidisciplinary topic working group which include clinicians, consumers and researchers from around Australia. The main roles of each group are outlined in its terms of reference and include:

Providing expert advice on the development of the Standard and related guidance materials
Advising on the key sources of evidence to inform the Standard. This might include clinical practice guidelines, clinical standards, systematic reviews, evidence on current practice and quality improvement measures.
Advising on the formulation of quality statements and supporting indicators
Supporting and promoting clinical care standards including communication with stakeholder organisations, including professional organisations, peak bodies and health service organisations, where relevant and appropriate.

All topic working group members are required to disclose financial, personal and professional interests that could, or could be perceived to, influence a decision made, or advice given to the Commission. Disclosures are managed in line with the Commission’s Policy on Disclosure of Interests.

Further information on the membership for each topic working group can be found on the Commission’s website.

Consultation

A public consultation process is conducted on each new clinical care standard. For reviews of clinical care standards, a more targeted consultation is undertaken.

Following consultation, the Commission reviews all comments and takes them into account when finalising the draft clinical care standard with advice from the Topic Working Group.

Key stakeholders for a specific topic are identified prior to consultation and requested to provide feedback with a view to future endorsement of the clinical care standard.

To be informed about future consultations, please subscribe to the Commission’s eNewsletters.

Endorsement

The endorsement process is a fundamental part of governance and stakeholder engagement for the development of national clinical care standards.

The Commission seeks endorsement from key professional and consumer bodies to communicate their support for the quality of care the clinical care standard describes. Consultation for endorsement begins at the outset of development and review processes and continues throughout. Read the Consultation and Endorsement: Clinical Care Standards statement for an overview of the Commission’s approach to consultation and endorsement.

Consultation and Endorsement: Clinical Care Standards

2023

Guide, user guide or guidelines

Evaluation

Clinical Care Standards are evaluated in accordance with key goals and objectives for the program. These are outlined in the Clinical Care Standards Program Logic for development and implementation of clinical care standards.

Evaluations focus on a standard’s:

Relevance and feasibility to implement
Adoption and use
Championing by stakeholder and interest groups
Improvements in quality of care.

An evaluation of the clinical care standards was undertaken in 2023 focusing on the Antimicrobial Stewardship, Delirium, and Hip Fracture Clinical Care Standards. This evaluation found that:

96% of health services surveyed reported that the clinical care standards are improving quality of care
92% of health services surveyed found the clinical care standards relevant.

Read the Evaluation Report to find out more about how clinical care standards are driving changes in care.