• Home
• Indigenous Chronic
  Disease Package
• Tackling Chronic Disease
  Risk Factors
  • National action to reduce Indigenous smoking rate
  • Helping Indigenous Australians to reduce their risk of chronic disease
  • Local Indigenous community campaigns to promote better health
• Improving Chronic Disease
  Management and Follow up
  • Subsidising PBS medicine co-payments
  • Higher utilisation costs for MBS and PBS
  • Supporting primary care providers to coordinate chronic disease management
  • Improving Indigenous participation in health care through chronic disease self management
  • Increasing specialist and allied health follow up care
  • Monitoring and evaluation
• Workforce Expansion,
  Training and Support
  • Workforce education and training
  • Expanding the outreach and service capacity of Indigenous health services
  • Engaging Medicare Locals to improve Indigenous Access to mainstream primary care
  • Attracting more people to work in Indigenous Health
  • Clinical practice and decision support

Improving Indigenous participation in health care through chronic disease self management

What the Australian Government is doing

The Government will provide funding for accredited training to be provided to 400 existing health professionals on how to support and educate their Indigenous clients so that they can manage their chronic conditions more successfully.

How this will work

• Health professionals will be trained to support and educate their Indigenous clients about how to live healthy lives while managing their chronic disease.
• Health professionals receiving training will be existing employees of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, organisations such as Divisions of General Practice, and state and territory government Indigenous health services.
• The training will be offered to Aboriginal Health Workers, nurses and other suitably qualified or experienced people.
• Training will equip these health workers with the skills and understanding to foster change to slow the progression of chronic disease and promote healthy lifestyle patterns.

How this will benefit Indigenous Australians

• Indigenous Australians will be encouraged to adopt healthier lifestyles and change the lifestyle factors that contribute to the progression of chronic disease.
• Indigenous Australians with a chronic disease will be better able to identify and understand their health problems and improve their quality of life.
• Continuity of care for Indigenous Australians will be improved through the identification of referral pathways to the primary health care provider.
• Increased collaboration will occur between Indigenous health services, local general practices, hospitals and allied health providers.
• Awareness will be raised within Indigenous communities about chronic disease and associated risk factors.

Who will implement the new approach

• The Australian Government will be responsible for implementing the new approach.

Back to Top

Page currency, Latest update: 24 March, 2010

• Useful links
• Contact us
• Copyright
• Linking to this site
• Disclaimer
• Privacy
• Accessibility