Palliative Care Australia has been developing standards for more than 15 years to support the specialist palliative care sector to deliver high quality palliative care. A limited scope review conducted in 2023, led to two updates of the Quality Improvement Suite:

1. the introduction of the National Palliative Care Standards for Specialist Palliative Care Providers 5.1 ed. (2024) and

2. a series of downloadable checklist packs that support self- assessment against the revised Standards for clinical and service leadership teams.

The presenter aims to share with the audience the updates to the National Palliative Care Standards and how these were determined.

Utilising the newly launched PaCSA Checklist Packs (for self-assessment), the poster presenter will speak about the evidence collection that can be harnessed through this process to contribute to mandatory accreditation processes with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards, the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards, and a range of other relevant Standards and Frameworks as they become available, such as the new Aged Care Standards.

Participants will be able to engage with the new National Palliative Care Standards for Specialist Palliative Care Providers 5.1 Ed. in new and more meaningful ways. The self assessment tools have been simplified to enable practical, timely responses to continuous quality improvement efforts, within the clinical setting and for professional development and service improvement innovations.

Continuous Quality Improvement, while a must within the health system, is often required to be addressed in clinical hours. PCA has listened to the needs of the sector and has established a program that fits within a variety of team or sole clinician settings, and has all the congruencies between other Standards and Frameworks mapped for you, to assist services to meet the their QI requirements both within and outside the palliative care specialisation.