Policy
Page contents: Overview | Download document
Overview
It is essential that all medical practitioners who have independent responsibility for patient care within health services in Victoria are appropriately credentialled and have their scope of clinical practice defined in accordance with both their level of skill and experience and the capability of the health service. The definition of a health service for this project means all public hospitals, public health services and multi-purpose services established under the Health Services Act 1988.
The former Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care developed a national standard to guide this important process: Standard for credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice, July 2004 (the ‘National Standard’).
Building on the National Standard, the Victorian Department of Human Services (the department) has formulated a consistent approach for credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice to be implemented in all Victorian publicly funded health services.
The first statewide version of the policy ‘Credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice for medical practitioners in Victorian health services – a policy handbook’ was released by the department in July 2007 and applies to all Senior Medical Staff appointed to a health service.
During the implementation of the policy, the department has actively sought feedback and improvements to the policy from across the health sector. Based on this feedback, the policy has been updated with the following key changes:
- The previous application/reapplication/change of scope of practice forms have been combined into a single form to increase usability.
- Inclusion of dentists in the process with a dentist specific form.
- Clarification of privacy considerations in relation to referee information.
- Expansion of the appeals process requirements.
- Inclusion of the working with children certification.
In addition the policy has recently been extended to include the credentialling of General Practitioners and other senior doctors who provide services to residents of publicly operated Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACF). Guidelines have been developed to assist health services with introducing a credentialling process into their RACF. The guidelines and accompanying forms are available on the Residential Aged Care Facilities page.
The policy provides guidance to all managers and senior medical practitioners appointed to a health service, with respect to the implementation of credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice processes.
It is expected that health services have now commenced implementation of the credentialling and defining scope of clinical practice policy and procedures with the support of a Director of Medical Services or an appropriately authorised Medical Leader. The policy should be fully implemented across all sites by October 2012, which allows for a full contract cycle for all senior doctors.
