The National Quality Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services sets a nationally consistent quality benchmark for providers of drug and alcohol treatment services. It includes clinical governance requirements and a list of accreditation standards that drug and alcohol treatment providers must meet.
From 29 November 2022, drug and alcohol treatment services in NSW are required to have accreditation with at least one of the accreditation standards listed in the National Quality Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services. For a summary refer to extract.
NGO service providers who receive funding from NSW Health should note that there are also standards approved by NSW Health and these should be considered in planning accreditation activities. Refer to NSW Health approved accreditation standards for alcohol and other drug services
Providers should consider on-going accreditation requirements and transition to acceptable accreditation standards within the transition period (until 28 Nov 2022). Service providers holding any third-party accreditation, not listed on the acceptable list of accreditation standards should demonstrate working towards accreditation with at least one of the National Quality Framework acceptable accreditation standards.
NSW Health will continue to provide implementation updates regarding the National Quality Framework as they become available.
Accreditation is only one aspect of delivering a quality service. All drug and alcohol treatment services within NSW are encouraged to embed systematic approaches to maintaining and improving the quality of care in their services.
The Clinical Care Standards for Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment outline the core elements of care that underpin treatment within the alcohol and other drug treatment sector in NSW and evidence of implementing these standards (as outlined in the toolkit) can be used to support some requirements of accreditation.
