Abuse and Violence Response Policy Template for Australian General Practices

What's in this template?

This is the practice-level document behind criterion F4.C of the RACGP Standards for general practices (6th edition), published 26 August 2026. F4.C asks the practice to provide role-appropriate training and to have supporting processes for recognising and responding to abuse and violence, including family, domestic and sexual violence.

The template is built on the RACGP White Book, Abuse and violence: working with our patients in general practice, 5th edition, the recognised guidance the RACGP names in its own guidance for F4.C. It points the clinical team at the White Book; it does not reproduce it. A clinical guideline and a practice policy are different objects, and F4.C asks for both.

F4.C is new. There is no 5th edition equivalent, so there is no existing practice document to adapt.

The template runs to 15 numbered sections and 2 fillable appendices:

1. Purpose: the five things F4.C asks for, and the two limits the RACGP guidance puts on them (no screening, and the practice does not have to build its own training)
2. Scope: the whole practice team, independent doctors in practice, and abuse disclosed, reported or suspected
3. How this relates to the Occupational Violence and Aggression Policy: the boundary table, restated below
4. Adopted guidelines and practice framework: the White Book, HealthPathways and 1800RESPECT, plus a lookup table telling the team where each part of the framework lives
5. Recognising abuse and violence, and safe enquiry: the forms abuse takes, enquiry versus screening, and the conditions that make a safe conversation possible
6. First-line response: the WHO LIVES model (Listen, Inquire, Validate, Enhance safety, Support) as set out in the White Book
7. Safety assessment and safety planning: what the practice does to support a clinical task
8. Local referral pathways: where the list lives and who keeps it current
9. Documentation, records and privacy: what to record, what not to record, and third-party access including subpoenas
10. Mandatory reporting and information sharing: a fillable jurisdiction table rather than a state-by-state claim
11. Training and assurance: role-appropriate training, where it comes from, safe completion, and the confirm versus assure distinction
12. A consistent team approach: briefings, standing agenda items and team support
13. Roles and responsibilities
14. Related documents
15. Approval and review: version control and a signature block

Appendix A: Local referral pathways is a landscape table that ships with ten national services already filled in, each verified against that service's own website: 000, 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline (13 11 14), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), MensLine Australia (1300 78 99 78), Men's Referral Service (1300 766 491), 1800ELDERHelp (1800 353 374), 13YARN (13 92 76), Blue Knot Helpline (1300 657 380), and a row for your jurisdiction's child protection intake. Blank rows follow for the local services that turn a national list into an actual pathway.

Appendix B: Training and assurance record is a landscape log with a Basis column that separates confirmed (employed team members) from assured (independent doctors in practice), because F4.C uses those two words deliberately.

Editable placeholder fields

Yellow-highlighted {{ }}Placeholder{{placeholder}} fields cover {{ }}Practice name{{practice_name}}, {{ }}ABN{{abn}}, {{ }}Practice address{{practice_address}}, {{ }}FDSV lead{{fdsv_lead}}, {{ }}Practice principal name{{practice_principal_name}}, {{ }}Local PHN{{local_phn}}, {{ }}State or territory{{state_or_territory}}, {{ }}Referral list location{{referral_list_location}}, {{ }}Child protection number{{child_protection_number}}, {{ }}Child protection hours{{child_protection_hours}}, {{ }}Approved by{{approved_by}}, {{ }}Effective date{{effective_date}}, {{ }}Next review date{{next_review_date}} and the sign-off dates.

Two policies with violence in the title, pointing opposite ways

This is the confusion worth clearing up before you download anything. Most practices already hold an occupational violence policy, and many will assume it answers F4.C. It answers none of it.

Direction of harm is the test. A patient who discloses that her partner monitors her phone and controls her money is this policy. A patient who becomes aggressive at the reception desk is the occupational violence policy.

The two documents meet in exactly one place. Where a patient's aggression at the practice connects to abuse and violence in their own life, both apply at once: the occupational violence policy governs how the team stays safe in the moment, and this policy governs the care and referral that follow. Log the incident under one and the clinical response under the other.

What RACGP criterion F4.C actually requires

F4.C sits in F4 Induction, training and supporting performance, in the Foundations of general practice standard. The criterion reads:

"The practice provides role-appropriate training and has supporting processes for recognising and responding to abuse and violence, including family, domestic and sexual violence."

Under it, the practice:

• adopts recognised guidelines and a practice framework for recognising and responding to abuse and violence
• makes local referral pathways available to the practice team to support safe, trauma-informed practice
• confirms that employed members of the practice team have completed role-appropriate training in recognising and responding to family, domestic and sexual violence
• obtains reasonable assurance that independent doctors in practice have completed role-appropriate training in the same
• promotes a consistent team approach through team discussions and briefings and access to current resources

Five requirements, and four of them are documents or records rather than clinical work.

Two limits the RACGP guidance puts on this, in its own words

Practices reading F4.C for the first time usually over-read it in one of two directions, so the guidance is worth quoting.

It is not a screening obligation. The guidance says training prepares the team to recognise signs that may be consistent with abuse or violence and to respond safely and respectfully when a patient raises or reports concerns, and that training does not require staff to screen or conduct clinical assessment. The White Book itself carries a strong recommendation against routinely screening all patients for intimate partner abuse and violence, while recommending asking patients who present with clinical indicators and routinely asking pregnant women.

You do not have to build the training. The guidance says practices are not expected to develop or deliver their own training, and that the practice could link team members to recognised training options and accept evidence of completion from external providers. The options it names include RACGP trauma-informed and violence-informed care modules, 1800RESPECT professional resources, DV-alert, PHN-commissioned family violence training, Blue Knot Foundation, Phoenix Australia and Safer Families. Check what your Primary Health Network already funds before you pay for anything.

Confirm versus assure

The third and fourth requirements use different verbs on purpose. For employed team members the practice confirms training is complete, which means sighting evidence. For independent doctors in practice the practice obtains reasonable assurance, a lower bar, because the practice does not employ them and cannot direct their professional development. Appendix B carries a Basis column so both are recorded and the difference stays visible at assessment.

Safe completion is in the guidance too

The guidance notes that where a team member has personal safety concerns or may be at risk of vicarious trauma, the practice could offer supportive alternatives to enable safe completion of the training, such as a different format, mode or timing. This subject matter reaches people personally. Section 11.3 of the template makes the offer explicit and says no reason has to be given. That costs nothing, and it is the sort of thing a practice only thinks about once it has gone wrong.

Where accreditation actually stands

Practices are still accredited against the 5th edition. Transition arrangements under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme are a matter for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and nothing has been published. F4.C is not assessable today, and no compliance deadline exists. Our 6th edition contents map and migration guide cover the wider picture.

Two of the five requirements also cannot be produced quickly. A referral list can be built in an afternoon. A training record showing that every employed team member has completed role-appropriate training, and that assurance was sought from each independent doctor in practice, needs the training to have actually happened first. Starting the record while nothing is assessable is the cheap version of this work.

How to customise this template

1. Download the Word document and replace every {{ }}Placeholder{{placeholder}}.
2. Name your abuse and violence response lead. F4.C does not require a named lead the way F3.C does, but its own test is whether the team knows who to ask for assistance, and a name answers that in one line.
3. Build the local half of Appendix A. The national services are already filled in and verified. What matters is the local sexual assault service, family violence service, child protection intake line, Aboriginal community controlled health service and community legal centre that actually take referrals from your area. Your HealthPathways region and your PHN are the two places to get them.
4. Complete Section 10 for your own state or territory. The template deliberately states nothing about your jurisdiction's mandatory reporting duty, because a policy that states it wrongly is worse than one that tells you to check. The AIFS resource sheets Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect and Reporting abuse and neglect: Information for service providers are the practical look-up source, and both are free at aifs.gov.au.
5. Decide your communication rules in Section 5. Whether written material goes home with a patient, and whether recall and reminder calls could reach the wrong person, are practice decisions with safety consequences. Write down what you decided.
6. Open Appendix B now, even if the first rows are blank. It is the evidence for two of the five F4.C requirements.
7. Put it on a team meeting agenda. The fifth requirement is a consistent team approach through discussions and briefings, and a policy nobody has discussed does not produce one.
8. Set your review cycle and add a trigger for when the Commission publishes the transition arrangements.

Related templates and tools

• Occupational Violence and Aggression Policy: the opposite direction of harm. Violence and aggression directed at the practice team by patients and visitors, under WHS law, with risk assessment, duress and Code Black response.
• Staff Training and Orientation Policy: the training lifecycle this policy's role-appropriate training slots into, including induction and the training register where Appendix B can live instead.
• Psychosocial Hazards and Workplace Wellbeing Policy: team support and the critical incident debrief process, for the vicarious trauma side of this work.
• Privacy Policy and Patient Access and Correction Procedure: the access and disclosure rules Section 9 relies on when a record containing abuse and violence information is requested.
• Environmental Sustainability Policy: the other 6th edition template in the library, for practices working through what is new.
• RACGP Standards 6th edition: what is in it: the contents map of all five standards and which criteria are new.
• RACGP Accreditation Readiness Quiz: a baseline against the 5th edition criteria you are still assessed on today.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need this policy right now?

No. Practices are still accredited against the RACGP Standards for general practices (5th edition), which has no equivalent to F4.C. The 6th edition was published on 26 August 2026, and transition arrangements under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme have not been published by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. No date has been announced. Your accrediting agency will confirm which edition your next assessment runs against.

Is our occupational violence policy enough?

No, and this is the most common misreading of F4.C. An occupational violence and aggression policy covers violence directed at your team by patients and visitors, under work health and safety law. F4.C covers abuse and violence experienced by your patients at the hands of someone outside the practice. Different person harmed, different legal basis, different response. Both documents are worth having, and neither substitutes for the other.

Does F4.C mean we have to screen patients for family violence?

No. The RACGP guidance for F4.C says directly that training does not require staff to screen or conduct clinical assessment. The White Book goes further and makes a strong recommendation against routinely screening all patients for intimate partner abuse and violence, while recommending that clinicians ask patients presenting with clinical indicators and routinely ask pregnant women. Those are clinical decisions for the treating clinician. What F4.C asks of the practice is the framework around them: adopted guidelines, referral pathways, training and a consistent team approach.

Do reception staff need training too?

Yes. Role-appropriate training is a lower bar than clinical training, and a different subject. Reception and administration staff need to know how to offer a private space and a longer appointment without asking why, not to discuss the reason for a visit within earshot of a companion, not to send material home where it could put someone at risk, and who to tell. They are not expected to deliver a first-line response. Section 11.1 of the template sets the expectation by role so nobody is trained in the wrong thing.

How do we get reasonable assurance from independent doctors in practice?

Ask, in writing, and record what came back. F4.C uses "obtains reasonable assurance" rather than "confirms" precisely because the practice does not employ these doctors and cannot direct their CPD. A dated email asking each independent doctor whether they have completed role-appropriate training in recognising and responding to family, domestic and sexual violence, and their reply, is reasonable assurance. Appendix B has a Basis column so it is recorded as assurance rather than being mixed in with the confirmed employed-staff rows.

What goes in the referral pathways list?

National crisis and counselling services first, which the template pre-fills and which were verified against each service's own website: 000, 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, Lifeline on 13 11 14, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, MensLine Australia on 1300 78 99 78, the Men's Referral Service on 1300 766 491, 1800ELDERHelp on 1800 353 374, 13YARN on 13 92 76 and the Blue Knot Helpline on 1300 657 380. Then the local ones, which are the point: your area's sexual assault service, family violence service, child protection intake line, Aboriginal community controlled health service, community legal centre and crisis accommodation. Record hours and intake criteria beside each, because a service that only answers on weekdays is a different pathway from one that answers at 2 am. Re-verify at every review; a dead number in a referral list is worse than no list.

Why does the template not tell us our mandatory reporting duty?

Because it differs in every state and territory, and it changes. Who must report, what types of harm are covered, and the threshold that triggers the duty are all set by state and territory legislation, and duties can also come from occupational policy rather than legislation. A template that guessed your jurisdiction's position would be wrong somewhere and would be relied on. Section 10 is a fillable table instead, with the questions to answer, a column for the source and a column for the date you checked, so it can be re-verified at review. The Australian Institute of Family Studies resource sheets at aifs.gov.au are the look-up source, and your state or territory health department and PHN hold current guidance.

Is the White Book included in the template?

No, and deliberately. Abuse and violence: working with our patients in general practice, 5th edition is a clinical guideline published free by the RACGP, and reproducing it inside a practice policy would be both a copyright problem and a maintenance one, because the policy would go stale the moment the guideline was updated. The template adopts it by reference, links to it, and builds the practice-level processes F4.C asks for around it: where the resources live, who to ask, who to refer to, what to record, and what training each role completes.