About GPA
In order to provide general practices in Australia with a choice of accreditation provider, the GPA ACCREDITATION plus (GPA) program was introduced in 1999.
The GPA program has continued to evolve with each edition of the RACGP Standards for general practices and, more importantly, to continue to meet the needs of busy general practices undertaking the accreditation process. Our programs are developed by GPs, and provide practices with a reliable but intuitive service, setting new benchmarks in the accreditation of general practice.
Our core focus has always been to simply support general practices. GPA is dedicated to providing more choice, more support, quality resources and a flexible program to suit all the different general practice and service types that currently operate. GPA Directors and staff believe that by offering our full support to practices, we can make accreditation both achievable and rewarding. We have always encouraged direct feedback from practices using our program, and this, too, has helped to ensure we keep abreast of current industry developments.
GPA is the only accreditation provider itself accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), meeting guidelines specifically developed for general practice accreditation organisations, as directed by the Department of Health & Ageing.
Accreditation should be an accomplishment, not a test. Follow the leaders in general practice accreditation and choose GPA ACCREDITATION plus.
Privacy policy
Quality Practice Accreditation Pty Ltd (QPA) collects information about practices, doctors and practice support staff as part of its accreditation program. This information is stored in electronic formats.
The information is used for the following purposes:
- Administration of the GPA ACCREDITATION plus program
- Reporting results of the accreditation to individual practices
- Preparing de-identified aggregated reports for government and other organisations
- Providing feedback to practices
- Ensuring the practices continue to be kept informed about current Standards and guidelines
- For the educational benefit of practices
QPA is committed to protecting your practice and personal information. This information shall not be used except as defined in this policy.
Confidentiality and Secure Storage
QPA undertakes the following procedures to preserve the privacy and confidentiality of practices.
- Electronic records are stored on secure fileservers that are regularly backed up and are password protected
- Practice information stored on a password protected electronic database can only be accessed by a practice identification code
- Practice accreditation reports are stored in electronic format only. These are password protected and only identified by a practice identification code
- All QPA staff and sub-contractors sign a strict Confidentiality Statement and Code of Ethics
Use of Information
QPA will not use any information collected as part of its accreditation activities, except as defined below:
- Disclosure as required by law
- To provide to JAS-ANZ, upon its request and in accordance with Procedure 16, a list of accredited practices, of which the name, location and accreditation status are made public on the JAS-ANZ website
- To provide information to organisations and the public about individual practices, when consented to by the Practice
Access to Information
If you wish to know what information we hold about you, please contact QPA. QPA will respond to your request within 10 working days.
Promotional Material
QPA will continue to promote its accreditation program and other services through direct mailout, newsletters and email. If you do not wish to receive this information, you may request to have your practice removed from our distribution list. This request will be actioned within 10 working days.
Except as provided for in this policy, the QPA accreditation database will not be sold or released to any third party without the explicit consent of all practices included in that database.
From time to time, QPA will use other medical address lists to inform GPs about our services. Your practice may be on one of these lists.
Currency
This policy is current as at August 2012. It is subject to change at any time.
Responsibility
The QPA Advisory Board and Directors have endorsed this policy. Responsibility for the implementation, maintenance and supervision of this policy is vested in the Managing Director.
For further information about privacy issues in general practice and your rights, contact:
