Ms Kate Ritchie1
1Palliative Care Australia, Deakin, Australia
Biography:
Kate Ritchie is a Senior Project Officer at Palliative Care Australia, with over 10 years’ experience as a Registered Nurse in regional New South Wales. Her background spans critical care and clinical education. Kate is completing a Master of Nursing focused on education. Passionate about improving healthcare in rural communities, she is dedicated to advancing palliative care service development and quality improvement. At PCA, she leads initiatives to promote the National Palliative Care Standards, supporting specialist and non-specialist providers to embed best practice. Her work is grounded in frontline experience and a strong commitment to equity and access in care.
Abstract:
Background:
In response to sector-wide feedback, Palliative Care Australia (PCA) undertook a limited scope review in 2023, resulting in two key updates to its Quality Improvement Suite: the release of the National Palliative Care Standards 5.1 Ed. (2024) and the development of downloadable Palliative Care Self-Assessment (PaCSA) packs. These updates aim to provide practical, accessible tools to support continuous quality improvement and accreditation across diverse care settings.
Aim:
This presentation outlines the rationale behind the updated National Palliative Care Standards and demonstrates how the revised framework can strengthen accreditation processes, drive service innovation and foster collaboration between specialist and non-specialist providers.
Methods:
Using the PaCSA packs, the presenter will explore how evidence generated through self-assessment can support mandatory accreditation requirements under the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHSS). The program is designed to be flexible and applicable across various service models, including team-based and sole clinician settings. The updated standards are mapped to national safety and quality frameworks to streamline implementation and reduce duplication.
Results:
Participants will engage with the updated standards in new and meaningful ways. The simplified self-assessment tools enable timely, practical responses to quality improvement efforts, while also supporting reflective practice, professional development and service-level innovation.
Conclusion:
PCA’s updated framework offers a responsive, mapped approach that empowers services to embed quality improvement into everyday practice. By transforming standards into actionable tools, the framework supports teams to meet their obligations and create lasting impact across the health system—within and beyond the palliative care specialisation.
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