Impacts of public health orders on on-site assessments

The following provides general information about how on-site assessments are being managed in locations across Australia where COVID-19 public health orders are in place that prevent a scheduled on-site assessment proceeding.

Public health orders include – but are not limited to – quarantine requirements, lockdowns, and cross-border travel restrictions imposed by the federal and/or state governments.

The AGPAL Team is closely monitoring the orders and the impacts on general practices in different regions of Australia. Our Client Liaison Officers are working directly with each of our affected clients to consider and put in place options for the optimal way forward according to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) guidelines.

As the administrators of the National General Practice Accreditation (NGPA) Scheme, the Commission maintains a webpage with all the latest information about assessments in the context of COVID-19.

AGPAL can advise that assessments will be postponed (and accreditation status will be maintained) when:

• A practice cannot proceed due to a public health order
• A practice’s COVID-19 risk level is not considered ‘low risk’

Any requests for extensions are considered on a case-by-case basis. When AGPAL has confirmed a new on-site assessment date, if there is less than four months left to the accreditation expiry, the Commission will provide an extension to allow time for these practices to undertake the on-site assessment and remediation. The Commission will notify Services Australia when a practice’s accreditation is extended.

For more information, please visit the Commission’s webpage with all the latest information about assessments in the context of COVID-19.

For AGPAL clients with any queries or concerns, please contact your Client Liaison Officer:

P 1300 362 111 | E info@agpal.com.au