In Aboriginal Health, we commissioned 11 services worth over $4 million dollars to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people across the Adelaide metropolitan region.
Cultural learning for primary health care professionals
We continue to commission Aboriginal cultural learning sessions for primary health care providers across our region. These sessions aim to educate providers on Aboriginal history, embed culturally safe practices and build the capacity of primary health care providers to appropriately engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
To support cultural learning, we commissioned a piece of work to assist providers in implementing strategies linked to the National Safety and Quality Service Standards. Within the standards are 6 defined actions which aim to support providers in improving the quality of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
We supported 12 primary health care providers with workshops dedicated to focusing on the 6 actions, which have been defined to specifically meet the needs of Aboriginal people within the National Safety and Quality Health Standards.
Increasing accessibility of primary health care and Aboriginal people with chronic conditions
The Closing the Gap (CTG)/Integrated Team Care (ITC) Program continues to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who live with chronic conditions across our region. The program provides one-on-one support to help clients self-manage their conditions and access the support they need.
Despite the pandemic impacting program delivery, the team continued to work towards preventing hospitalisations and increasing access to appropriate services. Although face-to-face appointments were affected, the team adapted their modalities to phone and web-based support, which was especially helpful to those living alone or in isolated situations.
The CTG Program continues to operate from 3 sites and works at a local level by engaging with community, health care providers, and Aboriginal organisations.
As part of our CTG Program, Indigenous Health Project Officers provided over 550 visits to general practice and community organisations, promoting access, and improving coordination of care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Enhancing headspace centres to improve capacity and delivery of culturally appropriate care
The Enhancing headspace Centres Project continues to focus on increasing the capacity of our region’s headspace Centres to deliver culturally appropriate, sensitive, and safe primary mental health care services for young Aboriginal people.
The project funds Aboriginal youth peer workers at each headspace site to support young Aboriginal people accessing primary mental health care services, as well as increasing the Aboriginal workforce. Cultural mentoring has been a key component of this piece of work.
Bringing awareness to cancer screening in Aboriginal communities
We commissioned Cancer Council SA to develop 3 videos on breast, bowel, and cervical cancer screening, to assist in educating Aboriginal health workers on how to deliver cancer screening messages in their communities.
Our journey towards reconciliation
In 2020, we embarked upon our reconciliation journey with the launch of our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
Our Innovate RAP spans for a 2-year period from July 2020 – July 2022 and maps out the next phase of our path towards reconciliation by -
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Supporting us to strengthen and maintain our relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
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Supporting us to work effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to ensure our commissioned services are culturally safe, appropriate, and respectful
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Helping us to embrace mutual learning and ensure the success of our reconciliation journey is embedded within our organisation
Across the year, we have -
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Provided staff with various cultural learning opportunities
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Developed a terminology policy to ensure we are respectful and consistent with appropriate language in communications to stakeholders
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Commenced a compliance audit with our commissioned providers to ensure they are working toward the 6 actions of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health National Safety and Quality Health Standards
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Commissioned cultural learning sessions for primary health care providers across the region
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Supported various reconciliation related activities across the year
We will continue to work towards our vision for reconciliation and look forward to providing an update as the year progresses.
