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
It is out. The RACGP released the Standards for general practices, 6th edition on 26 August 2026. It is free, 181 pages, and the full text is readable on the RACGP site as well as in the PDF. An eight page mapping document against the 5th edition is published with it. Note the two dates on the record: the document’s own imprint says July 2026, the public release was 26 August 2026. The RACGP describes the edition as guided by the “quintuple aim” of healthcare, patient experience, population health outcomes, cost-efficiency, provider wellbeing and health equity.
The structure. Three modules become four core standards: Foundations (F1 to F11), Clinical governance (CG1 to CG13), Patient participation (PP1 to PP10) and Continuous quality improvement (CQI1). That is 35 criteria sets and 92 criteria, three of them labelled aspirational. Point of care testing becomes an optional fifth standard, adding 8 criteria sets and 18 criteria. Indicators are now criteria, “must” statements are now sub-criteria, and the flagged and unflagged distinction is gone. Everything is mandatory unless it is marked aspirational, and only four criteria are: F8.F, CG3.J, CQI1.C and PoCT6.B.
The Commission has a position, and it is a holding one. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care put up its own 6th edition page on 26 August 2026. It confirms that the 6th edition supersedes the 5th as a document, that accreditation under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme currently uses the 5th edition, and that implementing the new Standards is a separate thing from being assessed against them.
What is not confirmed
The dates. All of them. No transition start, no end, no cut-over, and no confirmation that a practice will ever get to choose between editions. The Commission says arrangements will be provided in due course, and names what they will cover: a review of the Scheme’s requirements, a Department review of the incentive programs, and time for agencies, surveyors and PHNs to train. That is the whole of it.
The twelve-month window. You will still be told to expect twelve months in which either edition can be chosen. We told you that here too, and we have taken it down. It traces back to one AGPAL article dated 25 September 2024, which in the same breath said publication was planned for early 2026. Publication was August 2026. AGPAL’s current pages have dropped the figure, and the RACGP’s own FAQ raises the question and hands it to the Commission. If someone gives you a transition date, ask them where it comes from.
What has changed for the people selling to you. There is now a published criterion behind every 6th edition claim, so ask for it by code. F11.A for AI, CG1.A for digital records, CG3.E for allergies. A supplier who cannot name the criterion has not read the Standards.
The practical rule: you are assessed against the 5th edition today, and you will be until the Commission says otherwise. 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. There is no published date to wait for, and every piece of 5th edition work carries forward.
2. Map every policy to a Standard and criterion
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 your agency’s updates. The next announcement that matters is the transition one, and you want it the day it lands, not six months later.
5. Run the gap review now
This one used to be a plan for later. The Standards are published, so it is not waiting on anything. Take your existing evidence, map it to the new criteria, and you have a list of what actually changed for your practice rather than what changed in general. 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 read the published Standards, the mapping document, the Commission’s advisories and the agency guidance, and we tell clients plainly what is a requirement and what is still somebody’s expectation. The gap review against the 6th edition runs now, and we 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.
Track your own progress against the published criteria with the free RACGP 6th edition readiness tracker - tick things off, leave, come back; it saves in your browser.
- RACGP - Standards 6th edition hub
- RACGP - Standards for general practices, 6th edition (full text)
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care - RACGP Standards for general practices 6th edition
- AGPAL - Key takeaways from the introductory webinars, 8 September 2026
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?
Yes. The RACGP released the Standards for general practices, 6th edition on 26 August 2026. It is free to download and the full text is on the RACGP site. Accreditation is a separate question, and the answer there has not changed: practices are still assessed against the 5th edition.
Will there be a transition period?
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has said transition arrangements will be provided in due course. It has published no start date, no end date and no window in which a practice may choose between editions. The twelve-month figure still in circulation comes from a September 2024 AGPAL article and has never been confirmed by the Commission or the RACGP.
Should I wait for the 6th edition before starting accreditation?
No. Your assessment is against the 5th edition today, no date has been published on which that changes, 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. Operating since 2015, multiple healthcare partners Australia-wide. About Jamal →