08 September 2026
The Standards your practice is accredited against have been revised. The RACGP released the 6th edition on 26 August 2026, marking 30 years since the first edition.
Nothing changes for you today. Accreditation under the National General Practice Accreditation (NGPA) Scheme still runs on the 5th edition, and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care will publish transition arrangements in due course. What follows is what your team should know now.
What is actually changing for practices
The 6th edition keeps the outcomes-focused approach of the 5th, so it tells you what to achieve rather than how. The areas carrying the most new work are:
- Practice planning and governance: New criteria require a documented mission, vision and values, strategic and operational planning, a process for reviewing and resolving ethical issues, and identification and management of governance risks.
- Team culture, safety and wellbeing: Expectations now extend well beyond the 5th edition to cover psychological safety, workload monitoring, violence and aggression, workforce retention, staff feedback and practice culture.
- Cyber security and digital governance: Significantly strengthened, including a defined digital governance role, cyber incident planning and broader ICT governance, alongside tightened privacy and confidentiality requirements.
- Training and competency: Expanded to include role-specific training, ongoing competency, person-centred care, Medicare billing education, and responding to abuse and violence including family, domestic and sexual violence.
- Environmental sustainability and climate resilience: A new area, with expectations around sustainability planning, climate resilience and accountability.
- Artificial intelligence: A dedicated criterion governs safe use of AI tools, but it applies only if your practice uses them. The Standards do not require anyone to adopt AI.
- Shared decision-making: A new requirement, supported by consumer expectation statements developed with patients that set out what they value and expect from care.
- Antimicrobial stewardship expectations have also been enhanced, including education for practice teams and patients.
The new structure
Four core standards, plus an optional point-of-care testing standard:
- Foundations of general practice
- Clinical governance
- Patient participation
- Continuous quality improvement
Many 5th edition requirements carry over but have been reorganised, consolidated or expanded, so there is not always a direct match between a 5th edition indicator and a 6th edition criterion. The RACGP mapping document shows where each requirement has landed.
What to do now
Keep meeting the 5th edition, because that is still what you are assessed against.
Alongside that, the Commission encourages practices to begin implementing the 6th edition. Implementation means putting the systems and processes in place, and is separate from assessment. Practical starting points:
- Work through the mapping document to see what is new, expanded or unchanged for your practice
- Fold new requirements into the quality improvement activities you already run
- Prioritise the areas above that involve documentation you do not currently hold, particularly practice planning and governance
Your accrediting agency will contact you directly about future assessment arrangements.
