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Accréditation Sans Frontières · ASF Health Standards 9.0

Standard 27 · Primary Health Clinic

9 criteria · optional module (declare to apply)

Optional module (declare to apply). 9 criteria, of which 2 non-negotiable. Each criterion is numbered 27.Y, with its classification and verification questions.

Criteria

27.1 First Contact Is Accessible During Published Hours and Beyond

CORE

Patients can make first contact with the clinic during published hours, and the arrangements for urgent problems outside those hours are published, tested, and understood by patients.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Are the clinic's published hours, the way to make first contact, and the arrangements for urgent problems outside hours available to patients in writing?
    A patient who cannot find out how to reach the clinic cannot use it.
  2. Is the telephone or other first-contact route answered within a stated time during published hours, and is the response time recorded?
    A route that is rarely answered is not a first contact.
  3. Are patients told where to go for urgent problems outside the clinic's hours, and is that advice checked?
    Outside clinic hours, patients often have no route to care unless they are told where to go.

27.2 Each Registered Patient Has a Named Clinician

NON-NEGOTIABLE

Each patient registered with the clinic has a named clinician responsible for their care, the registration is recorded, and the patient knows who that clinician is.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Is every registered patient linked to a named clinician, with the link recorded?
    Care that belongs to nobody is not continuous.
  2. Does the patient know who their named clinician is?
    A patient who does not know this cannot easily return to the same person.
  3. Are patients who change clinician, or leave the clinic, recorded and handled in a documented way?
    A patient who disappears from the list without a record is at risk of being lost to follow-up.

27.3 Comprehensive Services Match the Population's Needs

CORE

The clinic defines the range of services it provides, including prevention, treatment, and first-line management of common conditions, and reviews whether that range meets the needs of the population it serves.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Is the range of services defined in writing, and is it published to patients?
    A service range that exists only in practice cannot be checked by patients or assessors.
  2. Is the range of services reviewed against the health needs of the registered population on a defined schedule?
    A population's needs change, and the service range must follow them.
  3. Where a needed service is not provided, is the patient referred or told how to access it?
    A gap in services is acceptable only if the patient is not left without a route to care.

27.4 Preventive Care and Screening Are Offered on a Defined Programme

CORE

The clinic offers preventive care and screening to its registered patients on a defined programme, with recalls, and records whether each recall was completed.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Is there a written preventive care and screening programme, based on recognised national or international recommendations?
    Screening offered without a written basis is offered without a standard.
  2. Are patients recalled for screening and preventive care on schedule, and is the recall recorded?
    A recall that is never sent is a missed opportunity.
  3. Are the results of screening acted on, including follow-up of abnormal results?
    A screening result that is not followed up can cause the harm it was meant to prevent.

27.5 Chronic Conditions Are Managed on a Defined Schedule

CORE

Patients with chronic conditions are registered, reviewed on a defined schedule set by their clinical needs, and their treatment and control are recorded and reviewed.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Are patients with chronic conditions registered, with each condition and its review date recorded?
    A condition that is not recorded is not reviewed.
  2. Are patients reviewed on the schedule set for their condition, and are missed reviews followed up?
    A missed review can be the start of a deterioration that could have been prevented.
  3. Is the control of each condition measured and reviewed at a defined interval, with changes to treatment recorded?
    A condition that is not measured cannot be shown to be controlled.

27.6 Referrals Are Made Safely and Tracked to Completion

NON-NEGOTIABLE

Referrals to other services are made with the information the receiving service needs, the patient is told where to go, and every referral is tracked until the outcome is known.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Does each referral include the clinical information the receiving service needs, and is it sent in a way that can be confirmed as received?
    A referral letter that is lost or incomplete delays care for the patient.
  2. Is the patient told where to go, when, and why, and is their understanding checked?
    A patient who does not know where to go often does not go.
  3. Is each referral tracked until the outcome is known, and are referrals that are not completed followed up?
    A referral with no outcome is a patient who may have been lost.

27.7 Care Is Coordinated Across Services, With Shared Records

CORE

Information about each patient is shared with the services they use, within the limits of consent and data protection law, so that the clinician knows what other services have done and what they have decided.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Is the clinician able to see the outcome of each specialist consultation, admission or test requested for the patient?
    A clinician who does not see outcomes cannot coordinate care.
  2. Are patient records shared with other services within the limits of consent and applicable data protection law?
    Sharing is needed for coordination, and it must be lawful.
  3. Are discharge and transfer summaries from other services reviewed and acted on by the clinician responsible for the patient?
    A discharge summary that is filed without action leaves the patient's plan unchanged.

27.8 Patients With Several Long-Term Conditions Have One Coordinated Plan

CORE

Patients with more than one long-term condition have a single, coordinated care plan, reviewed together, that sets out who is responsible for each part of their care.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Does each patient with more than one long-term condition have a single written care plan?
    Separate plans for each condition can conflict, and no one may see the whole picture.
  2. Is the plan reviewed with the patient on a defined schedule, and changed when their condition changes?
    A plan that is never reviewed stops reflecting the patient's needs.
  3. Is it clear who is responsible for each part of the plan, and is that known to the patient?
    Shared responsibility without ownership leaves care undone.

27.9 Patients at Risk Are Offered Health Checks and the Outcome Is Recorded

CORE

Registered patients identified as being at risk are offered a health check on a defined basis, and the offer, the result and the follow-up are recorded.

VERIFICATION QUESTIONS

  1. Are patients at risk identified from their registered information and offered a health check on a defined basis?
    A risk that is not identified is not acted on.
  2. Is each offer of a health check recorded, along with the patient's response?
    An offer that is not recorded cannot be followed up.
  3. Are the results of health checks acted on, with follow-up recorded for each abnormal result?
    A check that finds a problem and produces no action has no value. ————————————————————

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