Revised DIAS Standards have been released by the Department of Health.
Changes to the DIAS Standards will be implemented from 1 January 2016. No new standards have been introduced – the changes have been made primarily to clarify requirements, address ambiguities and inconsistencies and ensure alignment with the National Safety and Quality Health Services Standards produced by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
What do these changes mean for practices?
All practices that are currently DIAS-accredited, or planning to become DIAS-accredited, need to be aware of the introduction of the new standards from 1 January 2016.
All practices undergoing accreditation (or reaccreditation) up to 31 December 2015 will be assessed against the existing (2010) standards. The 2010 standards can be accessed on the Department’s website, along with a User Guide for practices preparing for accreditation up to 31 December 2015.
All practices undergoing accreditation from 1 January 2016 will be assessed against the revised standards. The revised Standards can be accessed on the Department’s website, along with a new User Guide for practices preparing for accreditation from 1 January 2016
From 1 January 2016 there will be no exceptions to the new Standards. All sites will be required to comply with the new version of the Standards from that date, and will be assessed against the new version of the Standards when undergoing re-accreditation. Practices undergoing re-accreditation from 1 January 2016 should start working towards the new standards now. Full detail and recources can be accssed at this link.
Practices entering the scheme for the first time may choose to be accredited against either the entry level Standards or against the full suite of Standards. Practices initially choosing to be accredited against the entry level Standards will have a period of two years to achieve accreditation against the full suite of Standards to maintain their accreditation.
If you have questions about the new Standards and how they apply to your practice, please refer to the link above or HDAA website or contact our DI team for support.
HDAA acknowledges and thanks the Department of Health for supplying the text and links for this article.