Hand hygiene compliance is assessed against a national benchmark agreed to by the states and territories and the Commonwealth. The national benchmark is 80%.

There are three national hand hygiene audits conducted each year:

• Audit period 1: 1 November to 31 March
• Audit period 2*: 1 April to 30 June
• Audit period 3: 1 July to 31 October

* National Audit period 2 became voluntary from 1 April 2023 to provide health service organisations with additional time for quality improvement activities. Organisations should refer to Advisory AS23/01: Advice on national hand hygiene audit period 2 and to their jurisdictional requirements (for example, performance or service level agreements) when deciding whether to participate in Audit period 2.

For more information, please get in touch with the relevant state or territory contact or visit the National Hand Hygiene Initiative webpage.