Infection Control Units of Competency

On 1 December 2022 Skills Ministers endorsed two new Infection Prevention and Control units of competency. The project to revise the units responds to the urgent need to update skills and knowledge to meet national infection prevention and control standards. 

The new units, HLTINF006 - Apply basic principles and practices of infection prevention and control, and HLTINF007 - Implement and monitor infection prevention and control standards, policies and procedures have been published and are contained within 16 newly released qualifications. The Implementation Guide can be found here.

At the request of the Industry Reference Committees involved in the update, the Australian Industry and Skills Committee agreed that the new infection prevention and control units should replace the superseded units in all current CHC and HLT qualifications through a ‘minor change’ process. This means an additional 29 qualifications will be updated as a version change with no transition period applicable. 

The ‘minor change’ to affected qualifications will occur on 28 February 2023, to give sufficient time to prepare to deliver the new units within the affected qualifications from 1 March 2023. 

What does this mean for RTOs?

RTOs are required to deliver and issue the qualification testamur as it reads on the national register. From 1 March 2023: 

• Students who have completed the older (superseded) unit/s but who will not finish the qualification prior to 28/02/2023 – 
  • A statement of attainment for the older unit will be required to be issued to the student
  • Undertake a mapping exercise to determine where training and assessment requirements have been addressed, and to identify any gaps
  • Conduct gap training and assessment as required
  • The competency outcome for the new unit is recorded on the testamur / record of results aligned to the qualification. 
• Students who have not yet started studying the superseded unit/s - the new unit/s must be delivered from 1/3/23.