The NSW Health approved health and/or community service standards for alcohol and other drug treatment services are considered appropriate for the range of organisations delivering AOD treatment services. The approved standards and accreditation cycle supports organisations to establish and maintain quality improvement processes, meet minimum standards of operations and service delivery, and provide a level assurance to funders and service users about service quality.
NSW Health approved organisation accreditation standards are:
- Evaluation and Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP)
Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS)
- QIC Health and Community Service Standards
Quality Innovation Performance (QIP)
- Australian Service Excellence Standards
Government of South Australia, Department for Communities and Social Inclusion
- National Standards for Mental Health Services*
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
*Note: Stand-alone accreditation to these standards is only acceptable for dedicated mental health service organisation and those recognised as mental health and AOD 'dual diagnosis' service organisations.
Mandatory requirement 1
Organisations must hold current accreditation to at least one of the approved accreditation standards. Note: organisations may voluntarily elect to hold accreditation to other standards in addition to the mandatory requirement.
Mandatory requirement 2
Organisation accreditation against the NSW Health approved health and/or community services standards for AOD treatment services must be awarded by an accrediting agency that is certified through the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) and/or the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua).
