About the CoHD Standards
The CoHD Standards define key requirements for delivering care to people with CoHD and supporting them in ‘Living Well’.
The CoHD Standards:
- Guide best practice for quality, coordinated and sustainable CoHD and ACHD healthcare for patients, families and carers, healthcare providers, and health service planners.
- Address the challenges of equitable access to specialty services across regional and rural Australia, and those facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other priority populations.
- Provide a framework for the development of clinical guidelines and workforce and infrastructure planning.
- Focus on inclusive and equitable support throughout life for people impacted by CoHD.
Scope
The CoHD Standards:
- Define the central principles of CoHD and ACHD healthcare practice in large hospital services as well as regional and rural health services.
- Outline requirements for cardiac care, surgery, nursing, mental health and allied health support for CoHD and ACHD in large hospital services and regional and rural health services.
- Apply to structure and delivery of services across the lifetime of patients (including ante-natal care and end-of-life care/bereavement), now and in the future.
- Recognise the unique needs of Australia’s priority populations. The Standards also address elements of mental healthcare and neurodevelopmental care relevant to the CoHD and ACHD populations.
- Recognise the critical role of research in providing new opportunities for care.
Values
The CoHD Standards have been developed with patients, families and carers as the central focus of all services and a lead principle of ‘Living Well’ for all Australians impacted by CoHD. This principle is supported by the following six values:
- Excellence
- Patient- and family-centred care
- Dignity and respect
- Empathy and compassion
- Knowledge
- Collaboration.
Development
The CoHD Standards are the first priority area in the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Heart Disease. The Plan was the result of a 10-year process of combined advocacy and government engagement by families and health professionals, and HeartKids Ltd.
The CoHD Standards comprise Phase 1 of the CoHD Practice Standards project. Phases 2 and 3 of the CoHD Standards project will include the progressive development of clinical guidelines, and workforce and service infrastructure plans.
An Implementation Plan to define specific actions and who should implement them will be published in 2024, and will be available on this website.
The CoHD Standards have been developed by a steering committee and working groups with representatives from:
- Medicine and nursing in relevant areas of cardiac care including paediatric cardiology, cardiac surgery, paediatrics, adult congenital heart disease.
- Allied health professions and other healthcare disciplines with specific expertise in CoHD.
- Patients, parents and carers with lived experience of CoHD.
- Diverse cultural backgrounds and priority populations.
- Regional Australia as well as main population centres.
Two rounds of public consultation on the draft standards were also conducted in 2021 and 2022.
Support
The CoHD Standards were developed from funding by the Australian Government Department of Health, through the National Strategic Plan for Childhood Heart Disease.