Implementation of the NSQHS Standards

The NSQHS Standards

The NSQHS Standards were developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) in collaboration with the Australian Government, states and territories, the private sector, clinical experts, patients and carers. 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 that expected standards of safety and quality are met.

Second edition

The second edition of the NSQHS Standards was endorsed by Health Ministers in June 2017, and released in November 2017. Assessment to the second edition commenced in January 2019.

The second edition of the NSQHS Standards comprises eight standards. Clinical Governance and Partnering with Consumers Standards combine to form the clinical governance framework for all health service organisations. They support and integrate with all the clinical standards, which cover specific areas of patient care. The eight standards are:

• Clinical Governance Standard
• Partnering with Consumers Standard
• Preventing and Controlling Healthcare-Associated Infection Standard
• Medication Safety Standard
• Comprehensive Care Standard
• Communicating for Safety Standard
• Blood Management Standard
• Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Standard.

The second edition addresses gaps identified in the first edition, including:

• Mental health
• Cognitive impairment
• Health literacy
• End-of-life care
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

It also updates the evidence for actions, consolidates and streamlines standards and actions to make them clearer and easier to implement.

Download the second edition

National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (second edition)

2021

Publication, report or update

The Commission has developed the following resources to support health service organisations improve the safety and quality of care using the NSQHS Standards as a framework for improvement:

• User guides
• Workbooks, risk matrices and monitoring tools
• Mapping of the first and second editions
• Orientation course 
• Logo and icons

First edition

While health service organisations are now being assessed against the second edition of the NSQHS Standards, the Commission has agreed to the continued application of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (first edition) for private dental practices only until such time as the National Safety and Quality Primary Healthcare (NSQPH) Standards are available.

The first edition of the NSQHS Standards was released in 2011 and used to assess health service organisations between January 2013 and December 2018. Using the NSQHS Standards, health service organisations put in place safety and quality systems that have improved patient safety. For example:

• decreased rates of healthcare-associated infections
• decreased in-hospital cardiac arrests
• better documentation of adverse drug reactions and medication histories
• decreased prescribing of antibiotics due to improvements in antibiotic stewardship.

The first edition addressed the following areas:

1. Governance for Safety and Quality in Health Service Organisations
2. Partnering with Consumers Standard
3. Preventing and Controlling Healthcare Associated Infections
4. Medication Safety
5. Patient Identification and Procedure Matching
6. Clinical Handover
7. Blood and Blood Products
8. Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries
9. Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration in Acute Health Centre
10. Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls