Awards & Accreditations.
Independent recognition of clinical standards, workplace culture, and community contribution. Accredited against national standards across all three centres, CESPHN Excellence Winner 2024, and Great Place to Work Certified.
Accreditation, and what it means.
Specialist Medical Services Group holds full accreditation from the Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited across Earlwood Medical Centre, Bangor Medical Centre and Sans Souci Doctors. This accreditation is the leading general practice accreditation standard in Australia. It is voluntary but sought after because it signals that a practice meets and continues to meet the RACGP Standards for General Practices (5th edition).
Accreditation covers clinical safety and quality, patient rights and needs, education and training, health promotion, information management, physical environment, and infection prevention. Practices are assessed onsite by trained surveyors and must recertify on a defined cycle. Accreditation lapses if a practice does not maintain the standard.
For patients this matters because Medicare requires GPs at accredited practices to hold specific standards for chronic disease management, mental health care plans, and other Medicare-rebated services. Some private health funds also treat accreditation as a factor in specialist referrals.
- Clinical safety & quality
- Patient rights & needs
- Education & training
- Health promotion
- Information management
- Physical environment
- Infection prevention
- Continuous improvement
- Records & privacy
Independent recognition across a decade.
Since the group's founding in 2014, SMSG and its founding clinicians have been recognised through the following awards.
- 2024Winner of Excellence in General PracticeCentral and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network (CESPHN)
- 2023Certificate of Excellence in General PracticeCentral and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network (CESPHN)
- 2018Australian Small Business Champion Award WinnerProfessional Medical Service Category
- 2016Local Business Award WinnerBusiness Person of the Year Category
- 2015Local Business Award WinnerHealth Improvement Category
The CESPHN awards are our most recent and, in the context of an accredited general practice, our most substantial. Central and Eastern Sydney PHN is the region's independent primary health network, and its annual Excellence in General Practice recognition assesses practices against multi-dimensional criteria including patient care, clinical outcomes, and community contribution. Being named Winner in 2024 after Finalist in 2023 reflects the CESPHN assessment panel's view of SMSG as a leading general practice in the region.
Great Place to Work Certified.
Specialist Medical Services Group is Great Place to Work Certified, based on a formal employee survey and independent cultural assessment. Great Place to Work is a global research and consulting firm whose certification is granted based on employee experience surveys measuring credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie in the workplace.
We take workplace culture seriously because it directly affects the quality of care patients receive. Clinicians who feel supported by their reception team, respected by their peers, and free to run their own practice deliver more consistent care over time. Reception and nursing staff who feel valued stay for longer, which is important in a healthcare environment where continuity matters.
For clinicians and administrative team members considering a role at SMSG, our Great Place to Work certification, along with the group's Careers page, is a good starting point for understanding what working here is like.
The practical implications.
Choosing a general practice is a personal decision that turns on many factors: which clinician you trust, how close the centre is, whether they take your family, what your billing arrangement is likely to be. Accreditation and awards do not substitute for any of these. But they can be a useful signal about the standards a practice holds itself to.
At SMSG, the practical implications of our accreditation and awards for you as a patient are:
Our clinical processes have been independently reviewed and continue to be reviewed on a defined cycle. This covers everything from how we manage your health records to how we run our infection control.
Our CESPHN Excellence in General Practice Award reflects an independent panel's view of the care our practitioners provide. It is not a marketing badge; it is a peer-reviewed recognition.
Our Great Place to Work certification indicates that the clinicians and administrative team who care for you are here by choice and are supported to stay. Continuity of care is one of the most important predictors of good outcomes in general practice.
