Primary Health Networks and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

Abstract

The Australian Government has established that the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is a priority for the newly established 31 Primary Health Networks (PHNs). Efforts to reduce the high hospitalisation rates of Aboriginal people will require PHNs to build formal participatory structures with Aboriginal health organisations to support best practice service models. There are precedents as to how PHNs can build formal partnerships with Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHSs), establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander steering committee to guide strategic plan development, and work towards optimising comprehensive primary care. All health services within PHN boundaries can be supported to systematically and strategically improve their responsiveness to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by assessing systems of care, adopting best practice models, embedding quality assurance activity, and participating in performance reporting. PHNs can be guided to adopt an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific quality improvement framework, agree to local performance measures, review specialist and other outreach services to better integrate with primary health care, enhance the cultural competence of services, and measure and respond to progress in reducing potentially preventable hospitalisations. Through collaborations and capacity building, PHNs can transition certain health services towards greater Aboriginal community control. These proposals may assist policy makers to develop organisational performance reporting on PHN efforts to close the gap in Aboriginal health disparity.

Primary Health Networks’ impact on Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services

“…ACCHS‐sector advocates and Indigenous health policy experts have argued that the PHN's ability to improve Indigenous health outcomes is dependent on how well it engages ACCHSs’ skills and knowledge (e.g. Couzos, Delaney Thiele, & Page, ). It is not clear that the PHN has a coherent strategy for engaging with ACCHSs and concerns have been raised over Indigenous cultural safety.…”

Factors affecting language and literacy development in Australian Aboriginal children: Considering dialect, culture and health

“…Otitis media (OM), or middle ear infection, is particularly prevalent among Australian Aboriginal populations. Australian Aboriginal children have one of the highest rates of OM in the world (World Health Organization (WHO), 2000) and suffer longer and more frequent episodes of OM than their non-Aboriginal peers (Couzos et al, 2001; Williams et al, 2009). High rates of OM and associated hearing loss in Australian Aboriginal children have implications for their language and literacy learning (Williams and Jacobs, 2009; Zumach et al, 2011).…”

Effectiveness of ear, nose and throat outreach programmes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: a systematic review

“…The majority of otitis media is managed in primary healthcare with referral to ENT specialists for assessment and surgical interventions where appropriate. 10 In Australia, referral to ENT specialists care is complex and varies across jurisdictions, with limited access to public ENT clinics. 11 However, in rural and remote settings, Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander children face wait times that are longer than recommended for audiology testing and ENT services, with a higher likelihood that these services are unavailable.…”