Discussion Paper for the Development of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan
What should the Health Plan look like?
Up to National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan
Being healthy shapes a person’s economic and educational success, but it also influences their broader family and community wellbeing. So it is important that initiatives continue to be directed at health, as well as the conditions in which people live and work.
Improvements to health take time. All stakeholders – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities, Indigenous and mainstream health service providers, key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and governments – must work together to improve the health and wellbeing of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Improving health requires governments to partner with service providers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves to come up with the most appropriate solutions to effect change. What works for one individual or community may not work for another.
The Health Plan needs to be structured in a way that takes into account the main issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health, but at the same time supports the wide range of services that all Australians use to help us be healthy and stay healthy. It also needs to recognise that while all Australians need access to the health system, at different times in our lives, such as during pregnancy or when we are old, we have different needs. It is also important that the Health Plan include the main factors which combine together to affect the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Many current and previous plans and strategies use principles and priorities as a way to agree what is important and what needs to be done. The Australian Government proposes that the Health Plan continue this approach in structuring the Health Plan, to focus on the health matters that will have the greatest impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health outcomes.
Therefore, your advice on what you think should be included as guiding principles and priorities for the Health Plan would be appreciated.
Principles
Following are examples of the principles that might guide the Health Plan. It is not an exhaustive list and the Australian Government is seeking the views of all stakeholders on what principles should be included in the Health Plan.- Responsible action. Governments, service providers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to take action to improve health outcomes, with this action to be informed by evidence.
- Accessibility and appropriateness. Services should be accessible to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities of place and interest, abilities and socioeconomic groups, with recognition and respect for individual needs and views.
- Engagement. This is essential in decision making at the individual, family and service level.
- Changing needs across the life course. These must be recognised in service planning and delivery.
- Population health approach. Health promotion and proactive prevention and early intervention will maximise health gains for individuals, families and communities.
- Harnessing of evidence. Evidence is necessary to assess the effectiveness of health activities and investments and guide future work.
Priorities
Following are a few examples of the priorities that might underpin the Health Plan.- Respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. The health and support systems need to ensure cultural diversity, rights, views, values and expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are respected in the delivery of culturally appropriate health services.
- Building a patient centred integrated health care system. Improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experience and engagement with the health system, including integration and coordination of care, and accountability of care.
- Increasing the focus on prevention and early intervention. Improving approaches to preventing incidence and progression of conditions and diseases, including health promotion activities that highlight the importance of healthy lifestyles and behaviours, earlier identification and management of risk factors, conditions and diseases. This also needs to recognise the role of the determinants of health in contributing to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- Building the capacity of health services and communities. Strengthening health and other services and building community expertise to respond to health needs and take shared responsibility for health outcomes. This includes effectively equipping staff with appropriate cultural knowledge and clinical expertise, building physical, human and intellectual infrastructure, and fostering leadership, governance and financial management.
- What do you think should be the guiding principles of the Health Plan?
- What do you think should be the priorities for the Health Plan?