The RACGP has updated a section of its infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines in line with the latest Standards Australia requirements.
The changes relate to reprocessing reusable medical devices and will become mandatory for accreditation purposes as of 2028.
The main change is that manual cleaning of equipment will no longer be considered acceptable and the use a washer-disinfector machine for pre-cleaning will be required.
This will require specific equipment that will have to be purchased if a clinic does not already have a washer-disinfector.
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The RACGP noted that different units are available that can be placed under or on a bench, or as a tall unit but their placement is required to support ergonomic loading and unloading and maintain unidirectional workflow.
Manual cleaning alone will only be acceptable in cases where the device’s instructions for use specifically prohibit automated cleaning.
While the prior version of the guidelines provided general instructions on the approach to reprocessing reusable medical devices, the updated standard now calls for a risk-based approach where each practice needs to document a structured risk assessment for reprocessing.
Risk assessment is now a documented, auditable requirement under the standards for general practices.
Other areas such as training, traceability, validation and environmental impact have also been updated with more explicit requirements.
Chair of RACGP Expert Committee, Standards for General Practices Chair Dr Louise Acland said: “This is what we do in general practice, so it means for most practices to comply with these guidelines, they will need to be aware that manual cleaning of instruments is no longer acceptable as a pre-cleaning step before instruments are packaged for sterilising.”
Dr Acland told newsGP the update had been written so that it applied to the most common sterilisation processes that happen in general practice – not the complex porcesses such as endoscopes or colonoscopes.
She said those require a more technical level of sterilisation and, in those cases, health professionals would need to refer to the Standards Australia document.
A document addressing frequently asked questions about the updates is available online.
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