Rules around virtual and in-person visits for Foundation Standard assessment

We’ve been hearing from PHOs and practices that there’s some confusion about Foundation Standard and whether site visits must be done in-person or whether a virtual visit is acceptable. I thought I would clarify.
 
The Foundation Standard is a key component of the College’s quality assurance and improvement programmes and is essential to ensuring quality primary care in New Zealand.
 
An in-person site visit at a practice has always been a part of the process for seeking certification.

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We recognise that the COVID-19 environment has required increased use of electronic resources in many areas of clinical practice. However, in this instance the College continues to require in-person site visits as part of the Foundation Standard process.
 
If your practice is in an area that is affected by the current COVID-19 community outbreak or you are having difficulty completing the in-person assessor site visit requirement for another reason, the College recommends that you speak to your PHO. An extension may be granted so that an in-person site visit can be completed when it is safe to do so.
 
If your practice feels the assessment needs to be completed urgently and needs to be done as a virtual site visit, please complete an exemption to site visit form. The College will consider these requests on a case-by-case basis and will only be considering requests from practices.
 
Certification will not be awarded to practices based on virtual visits when they were not approved by the College prior to the virtual site taking place. ​

If you have any further questions please contact us on Quality@rnzcgp.org.nz or +64 4 496 5999

Nāku noa, nā

The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners ​

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