Getting Started with the SPQF
A practical guide for practice managers who have never done a quality self-assessment before
You run a good practice. You know that. Your patients know that. But if someone asked you to prove it - to show them the systems, the policies, the evidence - could you? The Specialist Practice Quality Framework gives you a simple, structured way to turn "we do things properly" into something visible, documented, and genuinely useful. This guide will get you started in under two hours.
What the SPQF actually is (and isn't)
The SPQF is a voluntary, self-assessed quality framework designed specifically for specialist medical practices in Australia. It is not an accreditation program. Nobody audits you. Nobody scores you. Nobody fails you.
It is a structured way to look honestly at how your practice operates across eight domains - clinical governance and leadership, patient safety and risk management, clinical effectiveness, patient experience, information governance, workforce capability, practice environment, and continuous improvement - and identify where you are strong, where you have gaps, and where to focus next.
The framework is published under a Creative Commons licence (CC-BY 4.0). It is free to use. It belongs to the sector, not to a commercial entity.
Who it is for
Practice managers, principal practitioners, and practice owners at specialist medical practices of any size - from a solo specialist with two staff to a multi-practitioner group.
What it is not
It is not a replacement for practitioner-level registration, college fellowship requirements, or any mandatory reporting obligations. It covers practice-level quality and governance.
Before you start: three things to know
You are further along than you think
Most competent practices already meet a significant number of the framework's indicators without realising it. You have an ABN. You have insurance. You manage appointments and records. You clean instruments. You employ staff and pay them correctly. All of that counts. The SPQF does not ask you to build quality systems from scratch - it asks you to recognise, document, and improve the systems you already have.
Self-assessment means honest, not perfect
The maturity levels in the framework - Not in Place, Developing, Established, Excelling - are not grades. "Developing" is not a failure. It is an accurate description of where you are right now, and it tells you exactly what the next step looks like. The only bad self-assessment is a dishonest one.
You do not have to do everything at once
The framework has eight domains. You do not need to complete all eight in one sitting, and you certainly do not need to fix everything you find. Start with one. Get the feel for it. Come back to the rest when you are ready.
Pick your starting domain
Open the SPQF domain list and read the titles. Do not read the full domain documents yet. Just scan the eight domain names and ask yourself one question: Where would I be most embarrassed if someone looked closely?
That is your starting domain. Not the one you are best at. The one that makes you slightly uncomfortable. Common first choices:
If you suspect your policies are out of date or you are not sure who is actually responsible for what.
If your sterilisation logs, cleaning schedules, or emergency preparedness are informal or inconsistent.
If you are not confident your privacy practices would survive a complaint to the OAIC.
If your staff onboarding is "shadow someone for a day" and your employment records are incomplete.
If nothing jumps out, start with Domain 1. Governance underpins everything else, and it gives you the clearest picture of your practice's overall maturity.
Read one domain document
Open the domain document you have chosen. Read the overview and the quality statements. Each domain is structured identically:
The high-level commitments. There are typically five to eight per domain. These describe what good looks like in plain language.
Sit underneath each quality statement. These are the specific, observable things you would expect to see. Written as concrete actions or evidence, not abstract principles.
Tell you how to rate yourself on each indicator: Not in Place, Developing, Established, or Excelling.
Read through once without trying to assess yourself. Just get familiar with what the framework is asking. If any indicator confuses you, skip it for now.
Do your first self-assessment
Go back to the beginning of the domain. This time, work through each indicator and rate yourself honestly. Use a simple spreadsheet, a printed copy with a pen, or the Clinically Ready platform - whatever you will actually complete. For each indicator, ask:
Do we do this? No.
Do we do this sometimes, or inconsistently, or informally?
Do we do this reliably, and could we show someone evidence?
Do we do this well, review it regularly, and actively improve it?
Do not agonise over the boundary between Developing and Established. If you are not sure, pick the lower one. You can always revise upward later.
Practical tips for your first run-through
- Do it with one other person if possible - a senior nurse, a long-standing receptionist, or the principal practitioner. Two perspectives catch blind spots.
- Write a one-sentence note next to any indicator rated "Not in Place" or "Developing" that explains why. These notes will save you time later.
- Do not stop to fix things as you find them. The purpose is to see the whole picture first. Fixing comes next.
- A 45-minute first pass will not be perfect. It does not need to be.
Identify your top three priorities
Look at your completed self-assessment. You will almost certainly have a mix of ratings. That is normal and expected. Now ask three questions:
What is a patient safety issue?
Any indicator related to clinical safety, infection control, medication management, or emergency preparedness that is rated "Not in Place" goes to the top of the list. These are non-negotiable.
What is a quick win?
Look for indicators rated "Developing" where the gap between current state and "Established" is small - often it is just a matter of writing down a process you already follow, or filing a document you already have. Quick wins build momentum and confidence.
What keeps you up at night?
Practice managers usually know what the real risks are. If there is an indicator that makes you think "yes, we really should sort that out," trust that instinct.
Write down three priorities. Just three. Not eight, not twelve. Three things you will actually work on in the next month.
Take the first action
Before you close the framework document, do one concrete thing on your number-one priority. Not plan to do it. Actually do it. Examples:
None of these take more than fifteen minutes. The point is to break the inertia. A self-assessment that ends with "we should really do something about this" and goes into a drawer is worse than not doing one at all, because it confirms the suspicion that quality improvement is a waste of time. It is not. But only if something actually changes.
What happens next
Within the next week
Share your three priorities with whoever else needs to know - the principal practitioner, your team leader, your practice owner. Keep it brief: "I've done a self-assessment against Domain X. We're solid on most things. Three areas need attention. Here's what I'm going to do about them."
Within the next month
Work through your three priorities. Move them from "Not in Place" to "Developing," or from "Developing" to "Established." Then pick a second domain and repeat the process.
Within three to six months
Complete a self-assessment across all eight domains. You now have a baseline - a snapshot of where your practice stands. This is the foundation for ongoing improvement, and it is genuinely valuable if you ever face a complaint, a medicolegal matter, or simply want to demonstrate to your practitioners that the practice takes quality seriously.
Annually
Revisit the full framework. Compare your ratings to last year. Celebrate what improved. Identify new priorities. The cycle takes less time each year because the hardest part - starting - is behind you.
Common objections (and honest answers)
The first self-assessment takes about two hours. Practices that do not invest two hours in understanding their own risks routinely spend weeks dealing with complaints, incidents, and staff turnover that better systems would have prevented.
A solo specialist with two staff has fewer indicators to assess, not fewer reasons to assess them. Small practices are often more vulnerable to gaps because there is no redundancy - if the one person who knows the sterilisation process is away, and there is no written procedure, the gap is immediate.
They do not need to - not at first. The practice manager can complete the self-assessment independently. When you find a governance gap that only the principal practitioner can fix (and you will), bring them a specific, concrete problem and a proposed solution. That conversation is much easier than asking them to read a framework document.
Because the absence of a mandatory requirement does not mean the absence of risk. Specialist practices face the same medicolegal, privacy, employment, infection control, and workplace safety obligations as any other healthcare setting. A quality framework does not create new obligations - it helps you see the ones you already have and manage them before they become problems.
Ready to start?
Pick a domain and begin your self-assessment.
Specialist Practice Quality Framework - Getting Started Guide v1.0. Published by the SPQF Editorial Group. Licensed under CC-BY 4.0.