Metro South Health officially launched our Health Equity Strategy (PDF, 632.6 KB), on 21 September 2022, at an event attended by Traditional Custodians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, community members, Board members and Executive, and First Nation staff.

The Health Equity Strategy was developed by Metro South Health's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Directorate in consultation with the Health Service Chief Executive and endorsed by the Metro South Hospital and Health Board in April 2022. The Strategy was circulated to prescribed stakeholders for feedback for 30 days.

The Walking Tracks to Health Equity Consultation Report (PDF, 8.69 MB) summarises the consultation with the prescribed stakeholders (health workforce, consumers, Traditional Custodians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and community-controlled health organisations).

The Health Equity Strategy is the roadmap for how we will achieve health equity and eliminate institutional racism. We are committed to delivering healthcare differently, and this has been underpinned by legislation which requires each Hospital and Health Service to partner with First Nations people to redesign and reshape healthcare.

We are committed to embedding health equity into health policy, models of care and clinical practice.

This work is part of a broader strategy across all of the Queensland public health systems. The Queensland health equity framework is designed to eliminate racial discrimination and institutional racism, and influence the social, cultural and economic determinants of health by working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, consumers and staff in how we design and deliver health services.

Metro South Health will implement actions in our Health Equity Strategy in collaboration with stakeholders to identify opportunities for reform, to connect services and overcome access barriers. We are well positioned to achieve this thanks to the outstanding leadership and governance arrangements, including representation of First Nations people on the Metro South Hospital and Health Board, the establishment of a Metro South Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Directorate and through the establishment of our new Metro South Health First Nations Elders and Consumers Advisory Committee.

We are committed to reframing our relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through genuine engagement in co-design and co-implementation. This is about lived experiences and voices of First Nations people being valued, honoured, and respected. 

Through co-design, we will elevate First Nations peoples voice through leadership and engagement with First Nations staff, health consumers, community members, Elders and Traditional Custodians, as well as local service delivery stakeholders. 

We will leverage service delivery partnerships that are working and identify novel ways of providing care that will make the health system more accessible, more connected, and more responsive.

It is through genuine engagement and partnering that we will make real progress in closing the gap in health outcomes.

Metro South Health recognises and pays respect to the traditional custodians of the land and waters—the Yugambeh, Quandamooka, Jaggera, Ugarapul and Turrbal peoples—and to Elders, past, present and emerging.

For more information, email: MSH_ATSIHD@health.qld.gov.au.