The Primary and Community Healthcare Standards are voluntary. They should only be applied where services are involved in the direct care of patients.  

The way in which an individual primary or community healthcare service implements the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards will be dependent on the size of the healthcare service, as well as the risks and complexity associated with the services it delivers

Primary Health Tasmania encourages commissioned service providers to consider how these standards may apply to their organisation.

Some commissioned providers may already be participating in other quality standards and accreditation processes as well.

Working within clinical governance standards allows practices and organisations to connect with their patients and other health professionals to ensure that services provided will, as much as possible, meet the expectations of the individual and the broader community.

Example.
Consider a suburban clinic with multiple doctors, a practice nurse and support team who are working to meet the increasing needs of an ageing community who appreciate their compassionate service.

Knowing how difficult it is to employ general practitioners, the partners are considering implementing a nurse practitioner model. They are also working closely with the local pharmacy to build an improved referral pathway.

However, a majority of their patients are older people who do not want to see a nurse practitioner for their healthcare, preferring to see the GP.

Working with a core group of consumers, the practice is able to understand the concerns of patients and design the model to provide quality services in an efficient and timely way, as well as incorporating service aspects which consider patients’ healthcare priorities.