Does accreditation play a role in providing culturally safe healthcare?

As organisations responsible for protecting the health and safety of the public, it is important that accreditation authorities, including the Australian Dental Council (ADC), ensure cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples is included as part of their regulatory processes.

The ADC, Chief Executive Officer, Narelle Mills spoke with Professor Roianne West, Dean, First Peoples Health Unit, Griffith University, and member of the accreditation standards review working party to understand the role of accreditation authorities in improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Learn more, including why it is important for a standalone domain on cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to be included in the ADC/Dental Council (New Zealand) (DC(NZ)) accreditation standards for dental practitioner programs (the Standards), in the video below.

Cultural safety and the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Peoples is one of the key focus areas of the ADC during the review of the Standards. Proposed updates to the Standards aim to ensure education and training programs produce graduates with the ability to provide culturally safe care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

The consultation period for the proposed changes to the Standards is open until 5pm AEST, Monday 20 April 2020. To learn more about the proposed updates to the Standards and provide your feedback, click here.

The ADC is committed to keeping you updated on its work throughout the accreditation standards review. Announcements will be made on the ADC website as information becomes available.