Key messages
- Specific guidelines are available for credentialling of GPs and senior doctors providing care in a residential aged care facility (RACF).
- All medical practitioners working in a RACF must adhere to a minimum standard of credentialling and scope of clinical practice.
- Health services operating RACFs should promote credentialling as part of a strong collaborative relationship with their medical practitioners.
- The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners ‘Silver Book’ is a practical and effective guide to collaboration between senior doctors and RACFs.
The Department of Health & Human Services has developed a series of policy guidelines to support the credentialling of general practitioners (GPs) and other senior doctors who provide services to residents of publicly operated residential aged care facilities (RACFs).
Under the guidelines, any medical practitioner providing care in an RACF governed by a public health service is bound by the credentialling and scope of practice processes utilised by that health service.
For RACFs operated by a state-funded incorporated association, medical practitioners must adhere to a ‘minimum standard’ of credentialling and scope of practice, which comprises:
- medical registration (verified by the RACF on the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria)
- medical indemnity cover (required for registration and implicit in the registration check)
- a reasonable verification of identity by facility staff (including photo identification if the medical practitioner is not known to the facility).
Collaboration between RACFs and medical practitioners
Health services operating RACFs are expected to promote credentialling as part of a strong collaborative relationship with their medical practitioners in order to ensure the highest standards of care for residents.
This also promotes the involvement of medical practitioners in the development, monitoring and refinement of quality clinical practice within the RACF.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) ‘Silver Book’ (Medical care of older persons in residential aged care facilities, 4th edition, 2006) provides an excellent basis for collaboration between medical practitioners and RACFs.
Credentialling guidelines and form
The department has produced a factsheet outlining the process for credentialling medical practitioners in RACFs, together with an application form to help health services document the credentialling of individual practitioners attending their facilities.
Reviewed 29 November 2024
Health.vic
-
- Hospitals & health services
- Public hospitals in Victoria
-
- Rural health
- Improving Access to Primary Care in Rural and Remote Areas Initiative
- Rural x-ray services
- Rural health regions and locations
- Rural and regional medical director role
- Victorian Patient Transport Assistance Scheme
- Rural and isolated practice registered nurses
- Urgent care in regional and rural Victoria
-
- Private health service establishments
- Private hospitals
- Day procedure centres
- Mobile health services
- Fees for private health service establishments in Victoria
- Design resources for private health service establishments
- Professional standards in private health service establishments
- Legislation updates for private health service establishments
- Complaints about private health service establishments
- Cosmetic procedures
- Guideline for providers of liposuction
- Private hospital funding agreement
-
- Primary & community health
- Local Public Health Units
- Integrated care
-
- Maternal and Child Health Service
- Nursery Equipment Program
- Maternal and Child Health Service Framework
- Maternal and Child Health Service resources
- Child Development Information System
- Early parenting centres
- Maternal Child and Health Reporting, Funding and Data
- Baby bundle
- Sleep and settling
- Maternal and Child Health Workforce professional development
- Aboriginal Maternal and Child Health
-
- Public health
-
- Cemeteries and crematoria
- Cemetery trust member appointments
- Cemetery search
- Cemeteries and crematoria complaints
- Cremations
- Exhumations
- Governance and finance
- Cemetery grants
- Interments and memorials
- Land and development
- Legislation governing Victorian cemeteries and crematoria
- Cemeteries and crematoria publications
- Repatriations
- Rights of interment
-
- Medicines and Poisons Regulation
- Patient Schedule 8 treatment permits
- Schedule 8 MDMA and Schedule 8 psilocybine
- Schedule 9 permits for clinical trials
- Documents and forms to print or download
- Legislation and Approvals
- Frequently Asked Questions - Medicines and Poisons Regulation
- Health practitioners
- Licences and permits to possess (& possibly supply) scheduled substances
- Medicinal cannabis
- Pharmacotherapy (opioid replacement therapy)
- Recent updates
- SafeScript
-
- Environmental health
- Improving childhood asthma management in Melbourne's inner west
- Climate and weather, and public health
- Environmental health in the community
- Environmental health in the home
- Environmental health professionals
- Face masks for environmental hazards
- Human health risk assessments
- Lead and human health
- Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
- Pesticide use and pest control
-
- Immunisation
- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunisation
- Seasonal influenza vaccine
- Immunisation schedule and vaccine eligibility criteria
- Ordering vaccine
- Immunisers in Victoria
- Immunisation provider information
- Cold chain management
- Adverse events following immunisation reporting
- Vaccine error management
- Vaccination for infants and children
- Vaccination for adolescents
- Vaccination program for adults
- Vaccination for special-risk groups
- Victorian coverage rates for Victoria
-
- Infectious diseases guidelines & advice
- Infection control guidelines
- Disease information and advice
- Advice to the cruise industry: reporting infections
- Notifiable infectious diseases, conditions and micro-organisms
- Notification procedures for infectious diseases
- Infectious diseases surveillance in Victoria
- Germicidal ultraviolet light
- Protecting patient privacy in Victoria
-
- Tobacco reforms
- Tobacco reform legislation and regulations
- Quitting smoking and vaping
- Tobacco and e-cigarette retailers
- Making a report or complaint
- Resources and factsheets
-
- Mental health
-
- About Victoria's mental health services
- Area-based services
- Statewide and specialist mental health services
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals
- Mental Health Community Support Services
- Support and intervention services
- Language services - when to use them
- Access to mental health services across areas
- Transport for people in mental health services
-
- Alcohol & drugs
-
- Alcohol and other drug treatment services
- Overview of Victoria's alcohol and drug treatment system
- Pathways into alcohol and other drugs treatment
- Community-based AOD treatment services in Victoria
- Drug rehabilitation plan
- Hospital-based services
- Forensic services
- Pharmacotherapy treatment
- Services for Aboriginal people
- Services for young people
- Statewide and specialist services
- Compulsory treatment
- Family and peer support
-
- Alcohol and other drug service standards and guidelines
- Alcohol and other drug client charter and resources
- Alcohol and other drug treatment principles
- Service quality and accreditation
- Alcohol and other drug program guidelines
- Maintenance pharmacotherapy
- Specialist Family Violence Advisor capacity building program in mental health and alcohol and other drug services - Victoria
-
- Drug alerts
- 25C-NBOMe and 4-FA sold as '2C-B'
- Novel stimulants sold as MDMA, cocaine or speed
- Protonitazene sold as ketamine
- High potency benzodiazepine tablets
- MDMA adulterated with PMMA
- 25B-NBOH sold as powdered 'LSD'
- Green 'UPS' pills containing N-ethylpentylone (no MDMA)
- N-ethylpentylone in cocaine
-
- Ageing & aged care
- My Aged Care assessment services
-
- Dementia-friendly environments
- Designing for people with dementia
- Maintaining personal identity
- Personal enjoyment
- Interior design
- Dining areas, kitchens and eating
- Bedrooms and privacy
- Bathrooms
- Gardens and outdoor spaces
- Assistive technology
- Staff education and support
- Strategies, checklists and tools
- References
-
- About us
- Our Strategic Plan 2023-27 (2024 update)
-
- Our organisation
- Our secretary
- Leadership charter
- Our department
- Our vision and values
- Gifts, benefits and hospitality policy
- Our ministers
-
- Health workforce
- Working in health
- Information sharing and MARAM
- Victorian Public Healthcare Awards
- Aboriginal healthcare workers
- Allied health workforce
- Education and training
- Enterprise agreements
- Worker health and wellbeing
- Our campaigns
In this topic
More information
Contact details
Consumer Partnerships and Quality Standards Department of Health & Human Services