The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has released new resources to support services:
- already accredited to the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards; and
- also seeking accreditation to the Cosmetic Surgery Standards.
The Cosmetic Surgery Standards (CSS), released in December 2023, were developed to support national sector reforms. They aim to both “protect the public from harm and improve the quality of cosmetic surgery in Australia”.
The CSS are mandatory for all Services where cosmetic surgery is performed; accreditation is likely to begin in early 2025.
Services already accredited to the NSQHS Standards will continue to be assessed to the NSQHS Standards and be required to implement additional actions outlined in the Cosmetic Surgery Module (details below).
Single assessment process to reduce compliance burden
Services requiring accreditation to the NSQHS Standards and the Cosmetic Surgery Standards will undergo a single assessment process to reduce the compliance burden.
The Cosmetic Surgery Standards largely reflect the pre-existing NSQHS Standards; however, 20 new and partially matched actions are included to support cosmetic surgery reforms.
- The Cosmetic Surgery Module identifies 11 new and 9 partially matched actions, allowing Services to comply with both the NSQHS Standards and the Cosmetic Surgery Standards.
- The Map of the Cosmetic Surgery standards to the NSQHS Standards provides a comparison of the Cosmetic Surgery Standards against the NSQHS Standards.
The Cosmetic Surgery Module has been designed to be implemented with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The module is only intended for Services who already implement the NSQHS Standards. It is a 19-page summary which can be downloaded in either PDF or Word Document format.
The Map of the Cosmetic Surgery standards to the NSQHS Standards maps the National Safety and Quality Cosmetic Surgery Standards (Cosmetic Surgery Standards) with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. The purpose of the document is to assist service providers who are already assessed to the NSQHS Standards to implement the Cosmetic Surgery Standards. It is a 37-page summary which can be downloaded in either PDF or Word Document format.
Implementation Resources
The ACSQHC has emphasised the Cosmetic Surgery Standards “have been developed for implementation in Australia in every Service where cosmetic surgery is performed”.
The Commission has simultaneously also released Implementation Resources “to assist Services in fulfilling accreditation requirements”.
The details and relevant links are accessible from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) website via the link:
The Commission emphasised: “Accreditation to the Standards will provide confidence to the community that a service where cosmetic surgery is performed is able to meet expected standards of care”.
