The final RACGP 6th Edition has now been released. This practical comparison explains the new, expanded and retained criteria, and exactly what general practices should update in their policies, registers, staff systems and accreditation evidence.
Current accreditation position - 26 August 2026
The final 6th Edition has been released, but general practices are currently still assessed against the 5th Edition. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has not yet announced the transition timetable. Practices should maintain 5th Edition compliance while beginning a structured 6th Edition gap analysis.
The RACGP Standards for general practices, 6th Edition were released on 26 August 2026. They are not simply a renumbered version of the 5th Edition. The framework places substantially more emphasis on practice governance, accountability, digital systems, artificial intelligence, climate resilience, clinical risk, patient participation and measurable improvement.
For established practices, the good news is that strong 5th Edition systems remain valuable. Existing position descriptions, policies, registers, staff files, quality improvement work and evidence folders do not need to be discarded. They do, however, need to be checked against the new subcriteria. Several areas that were previously good practice or aspirational are now explicit accreditation requirements.
The practical question is therefore not, “Do we need to start again?” It is, “What can we retain, what must be updated, and what new systems do we need to build?”
The RACGP has published the final Standards and supporting online material. The separate decision about when accreditation assessments will move from the 5th to the 6th Edition sits with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
At the date of this update, the Commission's National General Practice Accreditation Scheme page continues to state that practices are assessed against the 5th Edition. The RACGP's transition guidance says the Commission will communicate the arrangements to practices, accrediting agencies and other stakeholders.
Do not assume a dual-edition period has started
No official start date, end date or practice choice between editions has yet been published. If your survey is approaching, continue preparing against the 5th Edition unless your accrediting agency provides formal advice otherwise.
| Feature | 5th Edition | 6th Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Overall structure | Three modules | Four core standards plus an optional Point-of-Care Testing Standard |
| Main sections | 17 standards and 44 criteria | 35 core criterion sections |
| Assessment items | 125 indicators | 92 core criteria |
| Required and aspirational | Mandatory indicators marked with the arrow symbol; unmarked indicators were aspirational | 89 core criteria required when applicable; three aspirational criteria |
| Optional standard | No separate PoCT standard | 18 additional Point-of-Care Testing criteria for participating practices |
| Primary shift | Policies, processes and evidence arranged across Core, QI and GP modules | More explicit governance, digital accountability, clinical risk, consumer involvement and measured improvement |
Official sources: RACGP release announcement, RACGP transition guidance, and National General Practice Accreditation Scheme.
The RACGP's official mapping classifies the 92 core criteria as 19 new, 39 expanded and 34 retained or consolidated. These classifications are useful for navigation, but they should not be treated as a compliance checklist. A retained or consolidated criterion can still contain changed subcriteria, terminology and evidence expectations.
Practices need more than a policy folder. The 6th Edition asks who is accountable, how decisions are made, how risks are escalated, how documents are controlled and how progress is measured.
Retain working systems, dual-map the evidence and build the missing governance, sustainability, digital, risk and data layers around them.
| Theme | New criteria | Operational effect |
|---|---|---|
| Governance | F1.A, F1.D and F1.F | Mission, vision and values; formal document control; and a proportionate governance framework with defined accountability and oversight. |
| Climate and sustainability | F3.A–C, CG4.C, PP6.B and CQI1.B–C | Climate-risk identification, emissions-reduction strategies, a sustainability lead, sustainable clinical practice, relevant patient information and environmental performance monitoring. CQI1.C is aspirational. |
| Family, domestic and sexual violence | F4.C | A recognised framework, local referral pathways and role-appropriate external training for the practice team. |
| Digital communication, digital health and AI | F8.F, F10.A and F11.A–B | Governance of digital tools and AI, including consent, privacy, vendor assessment, clinician oversight, risk management, training and monitoring. F8.F is aspirational. |
| Clinical practice, risk, data and consent | CG4.D, CG7.A, CG13.D and PP4.A | Antimicrobial stewardship, proactive clinical-risk management, governance of deidentified data used for secondary purposes and explicit informed-consent processes. |
Previously aspirational themes that now have required homes
Culturally appropriate and accessible information, progress against strategic goals, reminder systems, sterilisation-load traceability, nationally recognised clinical coding and open disclosure were aspirational indicators in the 5th Edition. Their underlying expectations are now embedded within required 6th Edition criteria.
See the RACGP's official 6th-to-5th Edition mapping document.
The 5th Edition's Core, Quality Improvement and General Practice modules have been reorganised into four core standards. A separate fifth standard applies only to practices seeking accreditation for point-of-care testing.
Eleven sections covering governance, strategic and operational planning, emergency response, climate resilience, the practice team, clinical autonomy, workforce culture, ICT, privacy, digital health and artificial intelligence.
Thirteen sections covering digital clinical information systems, patient identification and records, medicines, follow-up, clinical risk, emergency care, infection prevention, facilities, equipment, vaccines and data use.
Ten sections covering practice information, communication, cultural safety, consent, health literacy, environmental health information, open disclosure, consumer engagement, triage and after-hours care.
One concentrated section requiring trained responsibility, a functioning QI system, an annual activity using coded clinical data, leadership reporting and action on environmental performance.
This optional standard contains eight sections covering governance, trained responsibility, workforce competency, equipment and consumables, testing processes, internal quality control, external quality assurance and records. Practices that do not seek PoCT accreditation do not need to meet this separate standard.
The most important structural change
The 6th Edition brings previously dispersed requirements into clearer governance systems. Assessors will be able to trace a line from policy, to nominated responsibility, to implementation, to monitoring, to evidence of improvement.
The 39 expanded criteria contain some of the most consequential operational changes. The following requirements deserve early attention even when the practice already has a strong 5th Edition system.
| Area | What the 6th Edition changes or makes more explicit |
|---|---|
| Governance and planning | Document mission, vision and values; maintain strategic and operational plans; assign owners; measure progress; review the strategic plan at least every two years; and show how governance decisions and accountability operate. |
| Document control | Keep policies, procedures and operational documents current, accurate and accessible. Review them at least every two years or sooner when circumstances require, with version control and assigned sign-off and review responsibility. |
| Ethical issues | Provide a process for the team to raise, review, manage and resolve ethical issues within three months. A controlled ethical-issues log is a simple way to evidence the process. |
| Emergency and continuity planning | Move from a narrow emergency plan to a tested all-hazards prepare–respond–recover system, including continuity of patient care during an ICT outage. |
| Climate resilience and sustainability | Identify location and service risks, document practical emissions-reduction strategies, appoint responsibility and assess environmental performance. A full carbon-footprint measurement remains aspirational. |
| Workforce training and wellbeing | Strengthen induction and role-specific competency, person-centred-care training, family and domestic violence training, professional-development discussions, workload monitoring, staff feedback, trauma support and analysis of sick leave and reasons for departure. |
| Cybersecurity and privacy | Nominate responsibility, test backups and restoration, maintain cyber-incident and data-breach processes, control access, secure electronic communication and oversee external ICT providers. |
| Digital health and AI | Assess tools before implementation, document consent and alternatives, review vendors and data handling, provide training, retain clinician oversight and monitor risks, incidents, bias and performance. |
| Clinical information systems | Use a digital clinical information system. When multiple systems are used, each must contain an up-to-date health summary and a record identifying where complete clinical notes are located. |
| Patient identification | Continue using at least three identifiers, but update the approved list to name, date of birth, address, Medicare or DVA number and individual phone number. |
| Clinical records | All active patient records must document a known allergy or “no known allergies” in a codable field. Record systems also need accurate patient contact and relevant emergency-contact information and adequate documentation of all contacts and attempted contacts. |
| Clinical risk and incidents | Maintain a proactive clinical-risk system in addition to governance-risk and incident/near-miss systems. Practices need to identify risks before harm occurs, not only investigate events afterward. |
| Antimicrobial stewardship | Provide clinician and patient resources and implement strategies that support appropriate antimicrobial use. |
| Infection prevention and reprocessing | Strengthen role-specific competency and the clinical IPC coordinator's documented responsibility. Apply a risk-based reprocessing approach and trace sterilisation loads to affected patients. |
| Secondary use of data | Govern deidentified data supplied for research or other secondary purposes through agreements, appropriate data management, patient information and an opt-out mechanism. Review PHN and extraction arrangements as well as formal research projects. |
| Consent, open disclosure and feedback | Use explicit informed-consent systems for procedures and treatment, embed open disclosure, and maintain ongoing formal and informal consumer engagement with documented action and communication about improvements. |
| Quality improvement | Undertake at least one QI activity every 12 months, with at least one activity using coded clinical data. Record team feedback and report performance and improvement activity to practice leadership. |
A major patient-record threshold change
The 5th Edition accepted known-allergy documentation in at least 90% of active records and a current health summary in at least 75%. CG3.E now requires allergy status, known allergy or no known allergies, in a codable field for all active records. For large practices, this is a data-clean-up project, not a policy update.
The Standards are outcomes-focused, so there is rarely only one acceptable document. The strongest evidence usually demonstrates that the practice has identified the requirement, assigned responsibility, implemented the system, monitored it and acted when something did not work.
| Requirement | Practical evidence examples |
|---|---|
| Governance and planning | A controlled governance and business plan, nominated owners, measurable objectives, leadership meeting records and evidence that progress or risks have been reviewed. |
| Document control and ethics | A master document register showing version, approval and next review; archived superseded documents; and a confidential ethical-issues log showing review and resolution within the required timeframe. |
| Climate and sustainability | A climate-risk assessment, practical environmental action plan, named responsibility, a baseline such as energy, waste or procurement information, and evidence that actions were reviewed through QI. |
| FDSV preparedness | A recognised framework, current local referral pathways, role-appropriate external training certificates or records, independent-doctor assurance and evidence that the team knows how to escalate concerns safely. |
| ICT, digital health and AI | A digital-tool inventory, vendor and privacy assessments, data-location information, consent wording, accountable owners, staff training, tested backup and recovery logs, incident processes and periodic review of tool performance. |
| Clinical records | Clinical-software reports showing allergy-status completeness, documented remediation, repeat audit results and evidence that registration and consultation workflows prevent missing codable fields from recurring. |
| Risk and incidents | Separate governance-risk, clinical-risk and incident records, even if held in one workbook; documented ratings, controls, owners, due dates, review outcomes and evidence that incidents inform preventive risk controls. |
| Infection prevention | The IPC coordinator's position description, team competency evidence, current reprocessing procedures, equipment and maintenance records and a sterilisation traceability system that can identify affected patients. |
| Secondary data use | A register of external data flows, current agreements, vendor or recipient due diligence, patient-facing information, an opt-out process and records showing the practice reviews whether each extraction remains necessary. |
| Consumer engagement and CQI | A formal feedback method, an informal feedback log, complaints and open-disclosure evidence, documented actions, “You said, we did” communication, an annual coded-data QI activity and a leadership report. |
Release of the Standards and commencement of accreditation assessments are separate events. The final 6th Edition is available now, but the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme continues to operate against the 5th Edition until the Commission publishes transition arrangements.
Transition information should be checked against the RACGP's current guidance and the Commission's accreditation scheme page.
A well-built 5th Edition accreditation system remains the foundation. The safest approach is to classify each existing deliverable as keep, update or build.
| Existing practice material | Keep | Update or build for the 6th Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Position descriptions | Role scope, accountability and GP clinical autonomy | Add person-centred care, team-safety, FDSV, digital and AI responsibilities where applicable. Ensure the IPC coordinator's responsibilities are included in their position description. |
| Nominated leads | Existing nomination and acceptance evidence | Use a consolidated responsibility-holder register recording the person, deputy, training, acceptance, evidence and review date. |
| Business plan | Current goals, service profile and local context | Add mission, vision and values; distinct strategic and operational planning; owners; measures; governance; financial responsibility; and review arrangements. |
| Policy suite | Sound clinical and administrative content | Add controlled versioning and a maximum two-year review cycle. Build or expand governance, ethics, sustainability, FDSV, digital health, AI, clinical risk, data-sharing, consent and open-disclosure content. |
| Registers | Complaints, incidents, cold chain, equipment and current operational logs | Add governance-risk, clinical-risk, ethical-issues, digital/AI-tool, data-sharing, sustainability-action, responsibility-holder and master-document registers. |
| Staff-file audit | Credentials, CPR, induction, immunisation and CPD evidence | Distinguish employees and independent doctors; add role competency, person-centred care, FDSV, AI where used, IPC competency, equipment training and professional-development discussions. |
| Emergency planning | Emergency contacts, procedures and physical-response evidence | Extend to a tested all-hazards response and recovery plan, including ICT outage and continuity of patient care. |
| Patient feedback | Existing survey, complaints and improvement evidence | Develop ongoing formal and informal engagement, analysis, actions and communication such as “You said, we did”. Continue applicable 5th Edition requirements while they remain the assessment basis. |
| QI documentation | Genuine PDSA, audits and improvement evidence | Ensure at least one annual activity uses coded clinical data, captures team input and is reported to leadership. Connect environmental actions to the QI system. |
| Evidence folders | Reliable evidence already in use | Dual-code it against the 5th and 6th Editions and identify new evidence rather than simply replacing old criterion numbers. |
GP position descriptions remain important
F6 continues to protect clinical autonomy over patient care, referrals, investigations and clinically appropriate appointment duration and scheduling. Independent doctors do not need to sign an employee-style position description, but the practice still needs clear agreements, credentialing and evidence that they understand relevant practice systems.
MedAssure supports Australian general practices with practical RACGP accreditation preparation. The focus is not producing unnecessary paperwork; it is identifying what already works, closing the genuine gaps and leaving the practice with an evidence system the team can actually maintain.
Review current 5th Edition systems against the final 6th Edition criteria and separate what can be retained, what requires amendment and what must be created.
Update the existing suite and build the new governance, document-control, risk, digital, sustainability, data-sharing and responsibility systems.
Audit staff files, induction, competency and training evidence and provide an ordered implementation list for the practice team.
Test whether policies are operating in practice, inspect physical and digital evidence and identify issues before they reach the assessor.
A MedAssure Readiness Review identifies what is already compliant, what needs updating for the 6th Edition and what should remain in place for an upcoming 5th Edition survey.
Yes. The final RACGP Standards for general practices, 6th Edition were released on 26 August 2026. The Standards are available through the RACGP's official 6th Edition hub.
General practices are currently still assessed against the 5th Edition under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. The Commission has not yet published the transition timetable for assessment against the 6th Edition. Continue meeting the 5th Edition unless you receive formal advice that a different arrangement applies.
The four core standards contain 92 criteria: 89 required when applicable and three aspirational. The optional Point-of-Care Testing Standard contains another 18 criteria, including one aspirational criterion.
The largest changes concern practice governance and planning, document control, climate resilience and sustainability, family, domestic and sexual violence, digital health, artificial intelligence, clinical risk, antimicrobial stewardship, informed consent, secondary use of practice data and more structured quality improvement.
The AI criteria apply when a practice uses AI. A practice using an AI scribe or another AI tool needs governance covering consent, privacy, clinical oversight, vendor assessment, risk management, training, incidents and ongoing monitoring. The Standards do not require practices to adopt AI.
No. Measuring the practice's overall environmental impact under CQI1.C is aspirational. Required environmental criteria include identifying climate risks, documenting practical sustainability strategies, assigning responsibility and assessing and acting on environmental performance.
The 6th Edition requires ongoing formal and informal consumer engagement, action on feedback and communication about improvements. While assessments remain against the 5th Edition, practices should continue meeting applicable 5th Edition patient-feedback requirements until transition arrangements are confirmed.
Usually not. Strong 5th Edition systems remain useful, but they need to be mapped against the new criteria, updated for changed subcriteria and supported by new governance, digital, sustainability, risk and data-sharing evidence. Simply renumbering the old policies is not enough.
MedAssure Consulting is an independent RACGP accreditation consultancy and is not affiliated with the RACGP, AGPAL, QPA or an accreditation agency. This article reflects the final RACGP 6th Edition and publicly available transition information as at 26 August 2026. Practices should confirm current assessment arrangements with the RACGP, the Commission and their chosen accreditation agency.
Related MedAssure resources
Official references: RACGP 6th Edition hub · RACGP mapping document · National General Practice Accreditation Scheme
