Staff from across Princess Alexandra Hospital stood in solidarity with their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues on National Close the Gap Day to acknowledge the challenges hospital and health services face in improving health equity for Indigenous members of the community.
Executive Director of PAH, Dr Jeremy Wellwood, acknowledged that as a nation and as a community, there is a significant gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
“There has been insufficient progress in a range of different health outcomes, and I think it is important to come together as a group within the hospital setting for events such as Close the Gap to acknowledge that reality,” he said.
“The work is not done and we as a PA Hospital community and a broader Metro South Health community remain committed to the work to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.”
This year the Close the Gap event showcased a number of Allied Health initiatives that are offering meaningful solutions for the complexities of the health system to improve access to these specific areas of care.
The Hearing Mob Initiative is a fortnightly clinic run at Inala to address the identified gap in access to audiology care. The Hearing Mob Initiative is taking this care directly to the Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence at Inala where trust has already been established with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members for their health needs. This outreach service from PAH breaks down the barriers to access by working flexibly within this space to adapt and support what those patients need right away.
PAH Audiology runs an outreach clinic to Redland Hospital which is also delivering care closer to home for patients on the Moreton Islands.
Speech Pathology in PAH’s Head and Neck Cancer team are partnering with First Nations consumers and researchers to understand the experiences of access to head and neck cancer services. This project hopes to map priority areas for health service change that will have a meaningful impact on the experience of cancer services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
An important message for staff as part of Close the Gap is the need to engage in Cultural Capability training which is delivered by the team to improve understanding of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and culture, how their experience can benefit for greater cultural understanding, and how we can deliver care that is safer and more effective in meeting them where they are.
Dr Wellwood said Cultural Capability training is an essential foundation to improve understanding of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people and culture for other priority areas being addressed by the PAH Making Tracks to Better Health Committee such as Identifying for Better Health and reducing discharge against medical advice.
“Identifying for Better Health relies on those who are Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or both, identifying their culture when they present for health services to ensure we have the data to understand the broader picture of their health and the needs of everyone from an Indigenous background,” he said.
“But more importantly, this identification will help us improve the flow of their care in a culturally sensitive way that accommodates the key concerns and values that have been shared through valuable consultation efforts and listening across our health service.”
By embedding cultural understanding into everyday practices, regardless of the profession or role in the organisation, every staff member at PA Hospital will continue to make essential steps towards health equity and Close the Gap.