Research Australia supports the direction of the initial draft National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (third edition), including the consolidation of the eight second-edition Standards into three integrated Standards – Clinical Governance, Person-Centred Practice and Safe Clinical Systems – and the more explicit recognition of clinical research within clinical governance. The three proposed Standards provide a clearer organising framework and should strengthen the connection between governance, workforce capability and patient outcomes. Consolidation is beneficial where it removes duplication and makes accountability easier to understand; however, it must not dilute research-specific expectations or transfer additional evidentiary and administrative burden to services. Research is integral to high-quality care: it enables health services to identify unmet needs, generate and apply evidence, improve outcomes and operate as learning organisations. Retaining research in the national accreditation framework will strengthen board and executive attention and help establish research-enabled care as a core function rather than an adjunct activity.
On balance, the proposed structure can enable research if implementation guidance makes research responsibilities explicit, accepts evidence produced under recognised research and clinical-trial frameworks, and applies proportionate requirements across different service settings and research types. It could create new barriers if consolidation obscures responsibility, duplicates ethics or governance processes, or imposes uniform capability expectations on services with different resources and remits. Governance compliance alone will not embed research. The third edition will require visible leadership, organisational capability uplift, a skilled and supported workforce, meaningful consumer partnership, proportionate governance, cross-institutional collaboration, data capability and systematic translation of evidence into care. The Standards should therefore be one component of a coordinated national approach linking accreditation with health-system funding, workforce, research, data, clinical trials, implementation and procurement.
You can read our full submission and recommendations here.
