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Home > Ministers > The Hon Warren Snowdon MP, Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery > Media Hub > National Workshops to Assist Indigenous Health Bodies a Success

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PDF printable version of National Workshops to Assist Indigenous Health Bodies a Success (PDF 25 KB)

21 May 2010

Workshops held across Australia supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations to improve the quality of their health care services wrapped up this week.

The workshops were held over April and May in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and finished in Darwin this week. (see link to photos and contacts below).

Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, said the workshops were focused on
assisting organisations to understand and undertake accreditation-related activities, and were based on three important publications.

“These new publications provide an easy-to-understand guidance to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to achieve first time accreditation or re-accreditation under Australian healthcare standards.”

“These publications were developed because key stakeholders recognised there was a lack of information and understanding about accreditation processes and choices. The Rudd Government has developed these resources in response to those concerns.

“The publications have been developed in close consultation with key accreditation and sector representatives, including individual Aboriginal health organisations in all states and territories, and the peak body for these organisations, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation,” he said.

“The response to the publications at the workshops has been very enthusiastic, and I am confident that they will become widely used in the sector,” Mr Snowdon said.

The documents released today are:

• The Interpretive Guide of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Standards for General Practices (3rd Edition) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services – which interprets RACGP standards as they apply to ACCHOs.
• The Interpretive Guide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services - Quality Improvement Council (QIC) Health and Community Services Standards (6th Edition) – which interprets QIC accreditation standards as they apply to ACCHOs.
• The OATSIH Accreditation Manual – which provides information that will assist ACCHOs to make informed choices when pursuing accreditation.

Mr Snowdon said the three publications were part of a $36.9 million investment by the Australian Government to support eligible Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation’s to meet best practice and quality standards through accreditation processes.

“This measure supports eligible Aboriginal health organisations, including primary health care, substance use, social and emotional wellbeing and advocacy organisations, to achieve the same quality standards and business improvement practices that are applied in the mainstream health care system,” he said.

“The funding has been used for a variety of purposes, such as for accreditation registration and assessment fees, medical equipment, minor capital works, and information and communications technology.

The Minister pointed out that this type of activity is an important part of the Government’s agenda to eliminate Indigenous health disadvantage.

“We have committed $805.5 million as the Commonwealth’s share of the $1.6 billion National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes.

“This agreement aims to close the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians within a generation.

“The publications released today are a small but important step in the process of improving the quality and safety of health service delivery for Indigenous Australians.”

Media contact: Alice Plate 0400 045 999

*Photos available at: www.flickr.com/photos/warrensnowdon/

*Workshop participants from WA, NT and QLD are available for interviews