BREAKING NEWS -RE STANDARDS

I am pleased to bring you this news re the standards. I have been working with the Ministry of health for the past year to achieve an outcome for Sterile Science Departments.

Today the Director General of Health DR Ashley Bloomfield and the Chief Allied Health Professions Officer DR Martin Chadwick have confirmed a clear forward direction for establishing n a regular quality assurance solution across sterile services within Aotearoa NZ,

This shall be achieved by :

*adopting the revised version of the standalone Australian Sterilization Standard ( as yet not named or released)

*sterile Services to be audited by the designated Auditing Authority (DAA) as part of the health and Disability standard part 5 Infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship (DZ8134:2021)

*ensuring Sterile services have duly completed an internal audit in line with the revised Australian standard.

In the coming months the NZSSA will work with the M of H and directors of Allied health to implement the plan for the way forward. This shall include all DHB’s having completed a self audit by the end of June 2021..

Regards

Shelagh Thomas