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Accreditation of NSW Cancer Services

The Development of an Accreditation Program for NSW Cancer Services

The development of a Cancer Services Accreditation Program to review and accredit cancer services throughout NSW is one of the goals identified in the 2007-2010 Cancer Plan. It is envisaged that the cancer accreditation program will underpin current accreditation activities already undertaken by cancer services. It aims to achieve this by limiting the focus to the quality and safety arrangements of clinical cancer care.

The Cancer Services Accreditation Program involves the development of both an accreditation model and the standards to underpin this model. The development of these elements of the program is being undertaken by the consultant group Communio and will include extensive consultation from key stakeholders.

Three background documents on the development of the NSW cancer services accreditation program have been prepared:

1. Literature Review on Standards Development and Accreditation
   
2. Principles of Accreditation , and
   
3. Proposed Standards Framework Gap Analysis.

Project Objectives

The project is designed to:

1. Develop a set of standards for cancer services that
   • are “acceptable” to consumers of cancer services and to the clinicians and managers who provide the services
   • take into account the work that has been undertaken both in NSW and nationally to develop standards for cancer services
   • reflect where possible the best available evidence
   • are achievable by private, public, rural and metropolitan cancer services.
     
2. Develop a model for accrediting Cancer services in NSW that
   • does not duplicate current accreditation services
   • is complementary to current accreditation processes
   • is appropriate and applicable to NSW cancer services
   • reflects the work on accreditation models being undertaken by the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Approach

This project will be undertaken in several phases, as outlined below.

1. Project set up and project plan development
2. A review of the literature
3. A key stakeholder consultation phase
4. Standards and model development phase
5. Phase for consultation on the draft standards and model
6. Approval (to pilot) phase
7. Pilot phase
8. Web based tools and system costing
9. Final Report