The Department of Human Services appointed AHA to develop a single set of DHS Quality Standards focused on service delivery, to apply across all funded community and housing services. This appointment demonstrates AHA’s leading expertise in quality frameworks, standards and assurance within the community care sector.
The Department's facts sheet advised service providers that:
- Australian Healthcare Associates (AHA) has been hired to look at the three different sets of program standards to find where they have the same requirements or what is special to any of them. AHA has a lot of experience and knowledge of standards and quality in disability services.
- The approach will apply across the three DHS service delivery programs: disability services, housing and community building and children, youth and families – to all funded organisations currently required to undertake one or more external reviews.
- The new approach will streamline quality accreditation across the DHS funded community sector.
- The One DHS Standards Project is the department’s and the Human Services Partnership Implementation Committee’s (HSPIC) priority for 2010-2011.
AHA's work focused on developing a single set of standards to replace the quality standards previously in place for Housing and Community Building, Children, Youth and Families and Disability Services. The development of the new Standards was the result of extensive consultations with DHS program areas, sector representatives, peak bodies and consumer representatives. In keeping with the objective of reducing regulatory burden, the new DHS standards reflect the minimum requirements for quality service delivery.
The new DHS Standards module developed by AHA were announced by the Minister in June 2011, and are available at the following
DHS website and also a
DHS powerpoint presentation.
Transition to the new Standards will take place from July 2012.
BACKGROUND: An increased emphasis on quality assurance by funding bodies, at a state and national level, in recent years has resulted in service providers being faced with ever increasing obligations to comply with regulatory requirements. DHS funded organisations have raised concerns about the expense incurred in complying with the variety of overlapping standards and quality reviews required by the department. The Department agreed with funded organisations that the standards and quality review processes overlap, and that there is scope to reduce existing duplication.
In line with the Victorian Governments policy to reduce regulatory burden, the executive of the DHS committed to integrating its quality standards and external review processes. DHS approved:
- a reduction of the number of compliance and reporting requirements for DHS funded organisations
- adoption of an accreditation model enabling a funded organisation to be accredited once in each three year period irrespective of the number of DHS funded programs they deliver
- DHS not having its own corporate standards and the relevant accreditation body assessing the corporate structures of funded organisations using that body’s standards
- assessment by external reviewer of the service delivery of the funded organisations using a set of minimum DHS standards
More information on the DHS Standards project can be downloaded at the
Department of Human Services website