BCH earns full accreditation under new national standards

THE Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health has fully accredited Bellarine Community Health (BCH) under the new National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards.

BCH announced the accreditation last week after the regional health service network was one of the state’s first organisations audited under the new guidelines, which were released in May.

Several BCH programs and services were audited by the Commission, including primary health and sub-acute services, child health and development services, mental health and youth health and wellbeing services and dental health services.

BCH CEO Garry Ellis said the result was a huge credit to the organisation’s staff.

“What is really pleasing is that the assessment team made special note of the exceptional culture that is evident throughout BCH,” Mr Ellis said.

“It has been wonderful to be able to tell staff that their attitudes, relationships with other team members and their clients and their willingness to provide great service to the community was recognised by the auditors.”

BCH met accreditation requirements with all standards ‘met’ during the auditing process.

Although, several ‘met with recommendations’ were received by BCH, with room for improvement to be made before the next accreditation audit in three years.

The accreditation report acknowledged BCH’s partnership with the community.

“The commitment of BCH to effectively partner with their consumers was obvious, and that the organisation had a progressive approach for inclusive service provision and community platforms.,” the report said.

The report was conducted by independent quality assessors from the Quality Innovation Performance.