Opinion
Have your say on the general practice standards
The RACGP’s vision for the Standards is for practices to provide safe, quality and continuously improving care, says Dr Louise Acland.
The RACGP plans to publish the sixth edition of its Standards for general practices early in 2026.
Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, said ‘The only constant in life is change’ – this is especially appropriate in relation to healthcare.
The second draft of the sixth edition Standards for general practices is now open for public consultation.
This is your opportunity to provide feedback and have a say in shaping the future general practice standards, and I encourage you to take part.
The RACGP plans to publish the sixth edition of its Standards for general practices early in 2026.
Profession-led standards
The RACGP’s vision for the sixth edition is for Australian general practices to provide care that’s safe and of high-quality and continuously improving.
Our mission is to co-produce contemporary evidence-based Standards so that when patients visit an accredited general practice in Australia, they can expect safe and high-quality care.
What’s new in the sixth?
While core content from the fifth edition remains, the sixth introduces structural changes.
Reformatted structure:
- Consumer expectation statement – describing what consumers expect from accredited general practice
- Criteria and sub-criteria (bullets) – these are activities the practice needs to complete, or evidence it needs to present
- Explanatory materials
- Why this is important – rationale for including criteria in the Standards
- Meeting this criterion – further exploration of the criteria and ways a practice could meet them
Outcomes-focused criteria:
The criteria are written with a focus on outcomes and patients, allowing practices to develop systems and processes that reflect their preferred ways of working.
Consumer involvement (consumer expectation statements):
The RACGP has partnered with consumers to co-design consumer expectation statements that capture the meaning and importance of each criterion to consumers.
Alongside the structural changes, content has been significantly reformatted in the sixth edition to reduce complexity and to improve useability, while keeping with international best practice.
There are also 31 fewer mandatory criteria in the sixth edition.
New areas of focus
There are several new areas in each of the sixth edition standards:
In
Foundations of general practice, new areas include:
- artificial intelligence
- defining and planning for the practice
- digital health technologies
- environmental sustainability and responsibility
- practice team culture.
In
Clinical governance, new areas include:
- changes to digital clinical information systems
- facilitation of’ patient health records
- provision of access to information and resources to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use
- risk assessment when reprocessing reusable medical devices
In
Patient participation, new areas include:
- communications with patients that supports timely and effective care and partnerships
- broadened informed consent to include for third-party presence arrangements, and for clinical procedures and treatments
- engaging consumers
- the provision of care when the practice is not open.
In
Continuous quality improvement, new areas include:
- completing at least one clinical improvement activity every 12 months, of which one must include the use of coded clinical data
- environmental sustainability improvement activities.
Your feedback matters
The second draft of the sixth edition is going to available for public consultation and piloting for one month from 1 September.
From the public consultation, the RACGP wants to learn if there any gaps and issues in implementing the Standards, whether the explanatory materials are clear and useful, and if the structure is meaningful.
I strongly encourage you to provide feedback on the draft sixth edition.
The RACGP Standards Committee and Standards Team review every piece of feedback received. Changes have been introduced to the second draft in response to the feedback received from the first draft.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Dr Louise Acland is Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Standards for General Practices.
Log in below to join the conversation.
consultation practice accreditation RACGP standards standards for general practices
newsGP weekly poll
Research has found most people return to their original weight after stopping weight-loss medication; have you seen this among your patients?