Back to Frameworks
Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
Australia
v5th edition (current edition at build)
15 domains
42 controls
The RACGP's 5th edition Standards for after-hours and medical deputising services, the accreditation benchmark for services that provide general practice care outside normal hours on behalf of patients' regular practices: 42 Criteria across the Core, Quality improvement and After-hours services modules covering patient communication and rights, service governance and team safety, clinical management and handover to the regular GP, information management and records, quality improvement, clinical indicators and risk, practice agreements and reporting, triage and home visits, continuity and follow-up, clinician qualifications, facilities and the doctor's bag, and infection prevention.
Verified
Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) is a compliance framework from Australia with 15 domains and 42 controls. The largest domains are After-hours Services Standard 1 Access to care and continuity with the regular practice – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (7 controls), Core Standard 3 Service governance and management – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (6 controls), Core Standard 1 Communication and patient participation – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (5 controls). Every control below carries what it requires and what an assessor expects to see.
Maintained by Gerard Blokdyk
Framework summaries on this platform are interpretations grounded in the published source, for educational and compliance planning purposes. They do not reproduce or replace the official standards. Refer to the authoritative source for the definitive text. Framework names and trademarks belong to their respective organisations.
Framework Domains (15)
After-hours Services Standard 1 Access to care and continuity with the regular practice – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
7 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.1 | Arrangements with practices: a medical deputising service holds formal agreements to provide after-hours care on behalf of patients' nominated practices, seeks and uses feedback from those practices, records each patient's regular GP or practice, and reports the care provided back to the regular practice in a timely way |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.2 | Responsive system for patient care: the service can provide longer consultations when needed, runs a triage system so urgent needs are recognised and prioritised, and its recorded phone message tells callers to ring 000 in a life-threatening emergency |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.3 | Safety of the service team: the service provides a safe environment for all team members during the after-hours period, including those who travel to visits, with risk assessment of locations, drivers or chaperones, check-in procedures, duress alerts and the right to decline an unsafe visit |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.4 | Home and other visits: patients can obtain visits at home, in residential aged care or elsewhere when a visit is safe and clinically reasonable, with clear criteria and alternatives when a visit is not appropriate |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.5 | Continuity of care: the service encourages continuity with the patient's regular GP, and facilitates transfer of care when it is not appropriate for the patient to use the after-hours service |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.6 | Follow-up systems: results and clinical correspondence from tests the service's practitioners initiate are reviewed and notated or signed, the requesting practitioner ensures clinically significant results are followed up promptly, patients are told the follow-up process, and the regular GP is alerted to clinically significant results |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS1.7 | Engaging with other services: the service engages other health services when urgently required, its practitioners' referral letters are legible and complete, and the regular GP or practice is told of any referral made |
After-hours Services Standard 2 Qualifications of the clinical team – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
1 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS2.1 | Qualifications, education and training of the clinical team: clinicians hold current national registration where applicable and accreditation with their professional body and take part in relevant continuing professional development; GPs are specialist GPs or general practice registrars under appropriate supervision; and the clinical team is trained in the equipment they use and aware of its risks |
After-hours Services Standard 3 Service facilities and equipment – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
2 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS3.1 | Service facilities: any physical premises are fit for purpose; every consultation takes place in an appropriate consultation or examination space that protects privacy and confidentiality; the waiting area accommodates the usual number of people; accessible toilets and hand-cleaning facilities are available; and the service is visibly clean |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS3.2 | Service equipment and doctor's bag: practitioners have equipment for comprehensive primary care and emergency resuscitation, maintained as manufacturers recommend; the service has one or more height-adjustable beds and timely access to an electrocardiograph and a defibrillator; and each practitioner has access to a fully equipped doctor's bag for visits and emergency care |
After-hours Services Standard 4 Infection prevention and control – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
1 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::AHS4.1 | Infection prevention and control, including sterilisation: a clinical team member leads infection prevention and the supply of sterile equipment; the service has a written service-specific infection control policy and a team member who educates staff; everyone manages cross-infection risk through hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, safe handling of sharps and waste, cleaning of equipment, vehicles and premises and precautions for infectious patients; patients are told about respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene; and when sterile items are used the sterilisation load number is recorded in the patient's record with the patient's name logged against the load |
Core Standard 1 Communication and patient participation – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
5 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C1.1 | Service information: patients can find current details of the service, at minimum its contact information, consulting hours and area served, the billing approach, how to give feedback or complain, and how personal health information is handled |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C1.2 | Telephone and electronic communications: the service has a system for handling calls, voice messages and electronic messages from patients, including who answers, how urgent matters reach a clinician, how messages are logged and actioned, and what patients are told about response times |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C1.3 | Informed patient decisions: patients are told the purpose, importance, benefits and risks of proposed investigations, referrals and treatments, and are given information that helps them understand their diagnosis and manage their condition |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C1.4 | Interpreter and other communication services: the service makes an effort to use an interpreter for patients who do not speak the team's primary language and appropriate communication services for patients with a communication impairment, and offers resources that are culturally appropriate, translated or in plain English |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C1.5 | Costs associated with care: patients are told what they will pay out of pocket for the service's care and warned that referred services may carry their own costs |
Core Standard 2 Rights and needs of patients – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
3 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C2.1 | Respectful and culturally appropriate care: care takes account of each patient's rights, beliefs and religious and cultural background; patients are told the risks of declining a treatment, advice or procedure; the service accepts a patient's right to another opinion; distressed patients are given privacy; and the clinical team has a way of working through ethical dilemmas |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C2.2 | Presence of a third party during a consultation: the service seeks and records the patient's prior consent whenever it brings a third party such as a student, driver, observer or interpreter into a consultation |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C2.3 | Accessibility of services: patients with disabilities or special needs can use the service, through physical access to any clinic, communication aids, home visits and reasonable adjustments |
Core Standard 3 Service governance and management – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
6 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.1 | Business operation systems: the service sets goals to improve its services and reviews progress toward them, runs a business risk management system that identifies, monitors and reduces risks, and has a complaints resolution process |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.2 | Accountability and responsibility: every team member understands their role, has performance discussions and is inducted into the service's systems; one team member leads risk management and one coordinates the resolution of administrative and other complaints |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.3 | Emergency response plan: the service has a plan for unexpected events such as natural disasters, pandemics, power, IT or telephony failure and the unplanned absence of clinicians, covering how care continues and how practices and patients are kept informed |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.4 | Communication and teamwork: the team can raise administrative matters with the principals, directors, management or owners when needed, all members are encouraged to contribute, and the clinical team discusses clinical issues and the systems that support care |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.5 | Work health and safety: the service supports the safety, health and wellbeing of its team, encourages team members to obtain and record the immunisations the Australian Immunisation Handbook recommends for their duties, and provides GPS tracking to support the safety of practitioners driving to and attending home and other visits |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C3.6 | Research: any research the service conducts has ethics committee approval and is indemnified, and identified patient information is passed to a third party for quality improvement or professional development only with the patient's consent |
Core Standard 4 Health promotion and preventive care – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
1 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C4.1 | Health promotion and preventive care: patients using the service receive relevant information on health promotion, illness prevention and preventive care, tailored to them and appropriate to an after-hours encounter |
Core Standard 5 Clinical management of health issues – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
3 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C5.1 | Diagnosis and management of health issues: the clinical team can reach current clinical and other guidelines that help diagnose and manage patients, and the service supports consistency in diagnosis and management across its clinicians |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C5.2 | Clinical autonomy for practitioners: clinicians can make decisions affecting clinical care to the full scope of their practice, skills and knowledge, free from commercial or managerial pressure such as visit quotas |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C5.3 | Clinical handover: the service manages the handover of patient care back to the patient's regular GP, conveying what was found, what was done and what follow-up is needed, in time for the practice to act |
Core Standard 6 Information management – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
4 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C6.1 | Patient identification: the service uses at least three approved identifiers, such as name, date of birth, address, gender or a healthcare identifier, to match patients to their clinical information at every point where a mix-up could cause harm |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C6.2 | Patient health record systems: the service has a system for managing patient health information and, if it runs a hybrid paper and electronic system, records every consultation or interaction in each system with a note of where the clinical notes are kept |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C6.3 | Confidentiality and privacy of health information: patients are told how the service manages their personal health information and how to access it; the service transfers information in response to valid requests in a timely, authorised and secure way; and only authorised team members can reach health records, prescription pads and other official documents |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C6.4 | Information security: a team member is responsible for electronic systems and computer security; personal health information is never left where the public could see it; clinical software is reached only through unique individual passwords matched to each person's authorisation; and the service has a business continuity and information recovery plan, procedures for storing, retaining and destroying records, and policies on email and on social media |
Core Standard 7 Content of patient health records – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
1 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C7.1 | Content of patient health records: each patient has one record holding all the service's health information about them; records contain identification, contact, demographic, next of kin and emergency contact details, consultation notes and clinical communications, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, cultural background where relevant, and lifestyle risk factors where relevant |
Core Standard 8 Education and training of non-clinical staff – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
1 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::C8.1 | Education and training of non-clinical staff: non-clinical staff undertake training suited to their role and the patient population, and those with direct patient contact complete cardiopulmonary resuscitation training at least every three years |
Quality Improvement Standard 1 Quality improvement – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
3 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI1.1 | Quality improvement activities: a team member leads the service's quality improvement systems, the team shares information about quality improvement and patient safety, the service seeks the team's feedback on those systems, and the team can point to areas improved in the last three years |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI1.2 | Patient feedback: the service collects feedback from patients, carers and other relevant parties by a method consistent with the RACGP Patient feedback guide, analyses and responds to it, and tells patients how feedback was used to improve quality |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI1.3 | Improving clinical care: the team codes clinical information with a nationally recognised medical vocabulary, and the service uses its patient and service data to improve clinical services |
Quality Improvement Standard 2 Clinical indicators – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
2 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI2.1 | Event summaries: each patient event summary records known allergies and includes, where relevant, adverse drug reactions, current medicines, current health problems and relevant history as obtained, so the regular GP and any later clinician see what the service knew |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI2.2 | Safe and quality use of medicines: patients are told the purpose, importance, benefits and risks of their medicines and treatments and made aware of their own role, and medicines, samples and consumables are acquired, stored, administered, supplied and disposed of as manufacturers and the law require, including stock carried in vehicles and doctor's bags |
Quality Improvement Standard 3 Clinical risk management – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)
2 controls
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI3.1 | Managing clinical risks: the service monitors, identifies and reports near misses and adverse events in clinical care, and the team improves its clinical risk management systems to prevent them recurring |
| australia-racgp-standards-for-after-hours-and-medical-deputising-services-5th-edition::QI3.2 | Open disclosure: when a patient is harmed by their care the service follows an open disclosure process based on the Australian Open Disclosure Framework, acknowledging what happened, apologising, explaining and setting out what will be done, and involving the regular practice |
What is Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) and who does it apply to?
Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) is a compliance framework from Australia with 15 domains and 42 controls. The RACGP's 5th edition Standards for after-hours and medical deputising services, the accreditation benchmark for services that provide general practice care outside normal hours on behalf of patients' regular practices: 42 Criteria across the Core, Quality improvement and After-hours services modules covering patient communication and rights, service governance and team safety, clinical management and handover to the regular GP, information management and records, quality improvement, clinical indicators and risk, practice agreements and reporting, triage and home visits, continuity and follow-up, clinician qualifications, facilities and the doctor's bag, and infection prevention. It is used by organisations to establish and maintain compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
What does Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) actually require?
Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) has 42 controls organised across 15 domains. The largest domains are After-hours Services Standard 1 Access to care and continuity with the regular practice – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (7 controls), Core Standard 3 Service governance and management – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (6 controls), Core Standard 1 Communication and patient participation – Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) (5 controls). Each control defines specific requirements that organisations must implement to achieve compliance.
If I already comply with another framework, how much of Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) do I already cover?
Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) does not currently have cross-framework mappings in our system. Check back as we continuously expand our mapping database.
How do I implement Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition)?
Start your Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) compliance journey by running a self-assessment on our platform to identify your current compliance posture. Our AI advisory can answer specific questions about Australia RACGP Standards for After-hours and Medical Deputising Services (5th edition) requirements, and cross-framework mapping helps you leverage existing controls from other frameworks you may already comply with. Create a free account to access all 42 controls and track your progress.
Start Your Compliance Journey
Create a free account to run self-assessments, get AI advisory, and track your compliance progress across 1,248 frameworks.
Get Started Free →Free forever, no credit card required