Medical centre rewarded for meeting national standards
Wednesday June 24, 2009
Cobar Primary Health Care Centre staff Charee Beard, Bernice Martin and Karen
Holzigal with the centre’s certificate of accreditation from Australia General Practice Accreditation Limited.
Cobar Primary Health Care Centre has received a top industry honour, receiving an award of accreditation from Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL).
The award recognises the quality and safety of the local practice.
AGPAL chairman Dr Richard Choong said the accreditation shows that the practice makes a “significant investment in quality” on a day-to-day basis.
“Achieving accreditation is a major achievement for any practice and a clear demonstration that Cobar Primary Health Care Centre is seeking to improve their level of service to both patients and the community,” Dr Choong said.
Centre manager Bernice Martin said the centre staff are “overjoyed” with the result.
“We’ve all been working towards this for the last 12 months through all the staff systems we have in place,” Mrs Martin said.
She said the accreditation surveyor made a number of favourable comments about the
centre.
“They were particularly impressed with how we achieved their standards in such a short time.
“They said it would be a great training facility for GPs, and were also extremely impressed with the way our Aboriginal Medical Services are integrated into the service,” Mrs Martin said.
The AGPAL accreditation program was developed in consultation with various doctor’s organisations such as the Australian Medical Association and is a voluntary national program aimed at providing guarantees to patients.
To achieve the AGPAL endorsement, the practice team works for 12 months to implement the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for General Practices, a nationally recognised standard.
“The standards train staff in areas such as ensuring vaccines are within their use-by date and are stored in the correct temperatures, that the practice equipment is clean and sterile and the practice has emergency care available,” Dr Choong said.
The centre will go through the accreditation process again in three years, and Mrs Martin said staff are now working towards maintaining the high standard and making “continual improvements”.
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