THE Wheatbelt will get a further health boost, as the Bruce Rock Health Centre recently received national accreditation.
Like the Merredin Medical Centre, which was reported in the Mercury recently, the Bruce Rock Health Centre received the top honour from Australia’s most respected accreditation body, the Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL).
The program is not compulsory but medical centres can choose to participate if they wish to gain accreditation.
The assessment is carried out every three years.
The Bruce Rock Health Centre was first accredited nine years ago so this is the third time it has been accredited.
To achieve this consistently high standard of practice, the centre staff work hard to implement the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for General Practices, which is the recognised standard nationally for assessment in general practice.
The standards train staff in areas such as ensuring vaccines are within their use-by-date and are stored in the correct temperatures, that equipment is clean and sterile and the practice has emergency care available.
The judges visited the Bruce Rock Centre in October to do random checks on records and practices before accrediting the practice.
Practice manager Samantha Aurisch, who has worked at the centre for 13 years and been manager for 10, said it was a lot of hard work to prepare for the assessment but it was worthwhile.
“It’s a great accomplishment to be awarded this status as it takes a lot of work and dedication from staff to maintain our practice at the best possible level,” she said.
“We have created policies and protocols for everything, to ensure that everything is done to a high standard every time.”
She said the centre was becoming very popular as the doctor shortage in other areas meant people were travelling from near and far to take advantage of the centre’s services.
“Since March we’ve had to increase our reception staff to two because the practice is becoming so busy,” Ms Aurisch said.
“We are very fortunate to have Dr Caleb Chow, who has been at the centre for nine years now.
“We also have other allied health services in the practice such as dental and child health facilities.
“Our visiting female GP, Dr Olga Ward, flies her own plane here and visits for one day every six weeks and is always booked out because she provides a great women’s health service.”
The Bruce Rock Health Centre and various other centres in the Wheatbelt also participate in teaching medical students from the University of WA (UWA).
UWA recently received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for the success of this program and as a reward, they presented a free dermatoscope pack to each of the general practices that helped with the program, including the Bruce Rock Health Centre.
