Every second practice manager we talk to has heard something about the RACGP Standards 6th edition — usually from a supplier, a Facebook group or a consultant with a “6th edition-ready” package to sell. Here is what has actually been published, what hasn’t, and what a sensible practice does about it this year.
What is confirmed
The RACGP is developing a 6th edition of the Standards for general practices. A draft went out for public consultation in late 2024, alongside a pilot in which AGPAL assessed a group of volunteer practices against the draft. A further draft dated September 2025 is on the RACGP website. The RACGP describes the 6th edition as guided by the “quintuple aim” of healthcare — patient experience, population health outcomes, cost-efficiency, provider wellbeing and health equity.
As at the date of this article, the RACGP’s 6th edition hub says the Standards “will be published shortly”. No publication date has been announced.
AGPAL has told practices to expect a twelve-month transition period after publication, during which a practice may choose to be assessed against either the 5th or the 6th edition. After that window, all practices seeking accreditation will be assessed against the 6th.
What is not confirmed
The content. Until the RACGP publishes the final Standards, nothing about the indicators is settled. Consultation drafts change. Several requirements circulating online — digital-only records, mandatory clinical coding, environmental reporting, AI governance policies — appear in commentary, not in a published Standard. If someone is selling you a policy for a 6th edition requirement today, ask them to show you the published criterion. They can’t, because there isn’t one yet.
The dates. Neither the publication date nor the start and end of the transition window has been announced by the RACGP. Any specific date you are given is a guess.
The practical rule: you are assessed against the 5th edition today, and you will be for at least the transition window after the 6th is published. Build to the 5th, structure for the 6th.
What to do now
1. Don’t pause your accreditation
Practices due for assessment in the next twelve to eighteen months sometimes wonder whether to wait for the new edition. Don’t. The transition window is designed so you don’t have to, and every piece of 5th edition work carries forward.
2. Map every policy to a Standard and criterion, not a page number
The 5th edition is organised into modules, standards, criteria and indicators. If your policy manual references those — “Criterion C6.1 Patient identification” rather than “see page 43” — updating it for the 6th edition becomes a mapping exercise. If your manual is a single 200-page document with no structure, the 6th edition will mean a rewrite. This is the single most valuable preparation step and it costs nothing but discipline.
3. Fix the evidence gaps that fail practices in any edition
The areas that most often fail at assessment are not exotic. Infection control and cleaning records that don’t match the schedule. Cold-chain logs with gaps. Staff who have never read the policy they are asked about. Training records that don’t exist. Privacy and consent processes that live in one receptionist’s head. Every one of these will still be a requirement, in some form, in the 6th edition. Fix them now and you are preparing for both.
4. Make sure someone owns the Standards
In practices that sail through accreditation, one person — usually the practice manager — owns the Standards year-round and knows where every piece of evidence lives. In practices that panic, nobody does. Whoever that person is, sign them up to the RACGP Standards newsletter and AGPAL’s updates so the publication announcement reaches your practice the day it happens, not six months later.
5. Plan a gap review for the week the 6th edition lands
When the final Standards are published, a structured gap review against your existing evidence will tell you what actually changed for your practice. Book it in as a standing item. Practices we accredit get this review from us as part of the engagement.
What we’re doing for our clients
Every accreditation we prepare in 2026 is built to the 5th edition — because that is what the assessor will bring — and structured so that each document and piece of evidence maps to a Standard and criterion. We track the RACGP drafts, the AGPAL pilot findings and the transition guidance, and we tell clients plainly what is confirmed and what is speculation. When the 6th edition is published, we run the gap review and update what needs updating. Nobody rebuilds twice.
If you are due for accreditation and unsure where you stand, the free on-site audit is the fastest way to find out.
- RACGP — Standards 6th edition hub
- AGPAL — RACGP Standards 6th edition pilot launched and industry consultation now open
- RACGP — Practice standards
This article is general information for practice owners and managers, not legal or accreditation advice for a specific practice. Check the RACGP and your accrediting agency for the current position.
Quick answers
Has the RACGP 6th edition been published?
No. As of August 2026 the RACGP’s own 6th edition hub says the Standards “will be published shortly”, with no date given. Practices are still assessed against the 5th edition.
Will there be a transition period?
AGPAL has advised that practices can expect a twelve-month transition after publication during which they may choose to be assessed against either the 5th or 6th edition, after which the 6th becomes mandatory. The RACGP has not yet published final transition arrangements.
Should I wait for the 6th edition before starting accreditation?
No. Your assessment is against the 5th edition today, and everything you build to the 5th — policies, training, infection control, evidence — carries into the 6th. Waiting only shortens your runway.
Fifteen years in medical practice operations. MBA, Melbourne Business School. Two medical centres built and sold; ten-plus centres overseen today. About Jamal →