Monthly Archives:

Personal quit diary of a young Indigenous man plays out on social media

In an innovative personal quit smoking diary, Aboriginal blogger and teacher, Luke Pearson, will use Facebook and Twitter as part of his 20 day quit challenge.

Starting Friday, 30 November, 33 year-old Luke will take over the social media accounts of the Menzies School of Health Research project, No Smokes, to give daily updates on his quit efforts, seek tips and support, and inspire others to follow his lead.

 People can follow Luke’s journey as he tries ‘get quit’ and ‘stay quit’ after nearly 20 years as a smoker.

The activity is particularly relevant, given the ongoing challenge to reduce smoking amongst Indigenous communities.

 Smoking causes one out of every five deaths among Australia’s Indigenous population. More than half of Australia’s Indigenous people smoke compared to less than one fifth of non-Indigenous Australians.

 No Smokes (www.nosmokes.com.au) is an anti-smoking campaign launched in May, targeting young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

 To hear how Luke is going:

What: A personal quit diary plays out on social media

Where: No Smokes Facebook (www.facebook.com/nosmokes.com.au)

and Twitter (www.twitter.com/no_smokes)

When: Daily updates from 30November – 17 December

Media note: Luke Pearson is available for further comment.

 Media contact: Richmond Hodgson

communications@menzies.edu.au; 08 8922 8598; 0447 275 415

 

Background

Menzies School of Health Research is a national leader in Indigenous and tropical health research. It is the only medical research institute in the Northern Territory, with more than 300 staff working in over 60 communities across central and northern Australia, as well as developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Menzies is also a significant contributor to health education and research training.

NACCHO projects to reduce smoking in Aboriginal communities

Talking About The Smokes-TATS

Smokefree Workplace

Follow NACCHO on TWITTER

 https://twitter.com/NACCHOAustralia

Mick Gooda-Effective Aboriginal governance must start with us

Mick Gooda,Social Justice Commissioner

“Give us a chance to take control – effective Aboriginal governance must start with us, with our peoples and our communities”

 

Mick Gooda, Social Justice Commissioner with the Australian Human Rights Commission, today  launched his 2012 Social Justice and Native Title Reports in Sydney

 In the Social Justice and Native Title Reports looks at a range of development that have occurred during the reporting period (1 July 2011 – 30 June 2012).

A key theme of both reports is what constitutes effective governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Note for NACCHO Governance project “Our Business , Our way” click here

Commissioner Gooda acknowledges that over past decades there has been a failure to appropriately support governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

In his reports, Commissioner Gooda calls for a new approach; an approach that supports, enables and empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to determine their own futures.

“In order for a community to achieve its aims, the governance structures of that community must be culturally relevant and meaningful.”

“For Indigenous governance to be effective it is not enough to import foreign governance structures into communities and expect that those communities will be able to function effectively within those structures,” said Commissioner Gooda.

Commissioner Gooda looks closely at the Northern Territory and the damage caused by ill-conceived government action. The Northern Territory is a poignant illustration of how government action diminishes the capacity of communities to determine and address their specific needs.

“The period since 2007 has been one of great upheaval in remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities. Local government reforms coincided with the Northern Territory intervention and together were felt by communities as one assault.”

“The extent and regularity of imposed change faced by remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has unsettled the governance structures and shifted decision-making responsibility from communities to centralised government institutions.”

“The Local Government reforms removed Community Council structures while the intervention also dismantled existing structures and organisations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities,” said Commissioner Gooda.

“To leave people feeling like they have no control over their lives has a real human impact as highlighted in the Northern Territory in the last 5 years. We know from national and international research that disempowerment results in ill health and even increased suicide rates.”

Drawing on the extensive existing research, Commissioner Gooda articulates a three pronged framework for the effective governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

First, the foundation of the framework is community governance and self-determination.

“Effective Indigenous governance must start with us – with our peoples and our communities

We need to take control of the running of our own communities.”

The second aspect is effective organisational governance. The third aspect of the framework is the importance of government and other external influences.

“We know from decades of research, that government can and often does have a determinative impact on communities’ ability to achieve their aims,” said Commissioner Gooda.

“Government typically does not have the necessary skills and cultural competency to engage effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There have been many reports detailing the impacts of this lack of capacity. Further, funding is often provided on a short-term basis and the requirements of government agencies are often onerous in proportion to the amounts of funding available or provided.”

“Where government plays the right role in the governance framework, that is, supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to govern themselves, great things happen.”

“I am constantly impressed by the creativeness and commitment of our communities and groups within communities to finding solutions to the range of complex challenges we face. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities achieve these success stories all the time, often in the face of significant obstacles, and I have included a number of these in my reports,” said Commissioner Gooda.

Full reports available online at:

Social Justice Report http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/sjreport12/index.html

Native Title Report http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/nt_report/ntreport12/index.html

 

Media contact: Emily Barker  0419 258 597

The “reporting jungle” that constrains the Aboriginal health sector

For more information about the NACCHO Governance project

At the recent Congress Lowitja in Melbourne, there was quite a bit of discussion about the adverse impact of government managerialism on the capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community health organisations.

We acknowledge the continued support of Melissa Sweet CROAKEY for publishing this article

Dr Mark Wenitong, from the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) and a former president of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, also raised concerns about the health impacts of public sector managerialism.

He suggested that discussions about Indigenous health should look beyond individual risk factors and the social determinants of health to the “political determinants of primary healthcare”.

Professor Ian Anderson from the University of Melbourne said that a mutual lack of trust between governments and Indigenous community organisations was leading to perverse outcomes, and suggested the need to build trust-based relationships.

In the article below, Professor Judith Dwyer from Flinders University and the Lowitja Institute (who chaired the conference session on “courageous questions”), investigates what progress has been made since The overburden report: Contracting for Indigenous health services of 2009.

While there has been some streamlining of the “reporting jungle”, she says there is still plenty of room for improvement.

***

Funding policy for Aboriginal Health Services: two steps forward…

Judith Dwyer writes:

You’re unlikely to read this in the mainstream media, but there is some good news about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health – for example, the goal to halve the gap in infant and child mortality (0-5 years) by 2018 is on track (according to the latest Health Performance Framework report).

This and other signs of progress have many causes, but one of them is better funding for and attention to primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a good proportion of it provided by Aboriginal community-controlled health services (ACCHSs).

Part of that story lies in back offices in health departments, where progress is being made on making the funding and reporting arrangements for the ACCHSs more stable and less onerous.

While it is routine that governments impose strict conditions in their funding contracts with the non-government sector, there is evidence that the ACCHSs experience the most complex web of funding rules and data requirements (sometimes overlapping and contradictory) when compared to other primary health care providers.

With colleagues, I have researched the relationship between government funders and ACCHSs for many years, and we have documented the extent of the problem.

None of the funders planned to make it so complicated, but the fact that ACCHSs we surveyed were funded on average from about 22 different programs and sources, each with its own reporting and accounting requirements, made for high costs in administration, and wear and tear on working relationships.

When the Overburden Report was released in 2009, the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH) was already moving towards improvement, and our work was promptly acknowledged as an impetus for a major effort at streamlining that commenced in 2010.

However, partly because OATSIH is still only one of many funders, but for some other important reasons as well, it seems that this change hasn’t made a big difference on the ground. The reporting jungle has been thinned a bit, and there has been some shift towards more stable funding, but some underlying problems seem to be less amenable to change.

Why is it so?

It seems to me that one of the underlying reasons is concern about governance in Aboriginal organisations. I have never seen any hard evidence comparing the frequency or severity of governance problems in Aboriginal and mainstream organisations, but governments have a strong sense that there is a problem, and many community organisations and leaders acknowledge that there is room for improvement and are working actively to strengthen governance in the sector.

Some of the ‘red tape’ requirements of funders and regulators can be seen as an attempt to enforce good governance practice from the outside.

For example, one major funder specifies the risk management methods and tools the organisations must use as a condition of funding. At one level, this makes sense – a good risk management framework is helpful.

But good governance is a necessary foundation for accountability – it doesn’t really work the other way around. That is, you can’t create good governance by applying red tape (although the regulations and incentives that are part of the organisation’s environment matter).

Of course, accountability is more than what is measured with red tape. Aboriginal health organisations need to be accountable to their communities as well as to the broader tax-paying public.

While those two ‘accountability-holders’ may require many of the same things, they are not identical in their priorities or in how they judge success.

The Aboriginal health sector, OATSIH and the relevant Minister (Warren Snowdon) are working actively now on both community and corporate governance, through a working party and a major national project under the auspices of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

This important work needs to continue, and in the meantime, the real question for government funders is how could their policies and practices enhance rather than constrain good governance in this context? Two things are clear.

Firstly, as Professor Mick Dodson’s work has shown, there is no fundamental conflict at the level of principle between good corporate governance and good Aboriginal community governance. So the task of finding ways to make the two work together is feasible. Secondly, the solution will not be something that governments can impose.

Governments hold the responsibility for providing a strong regulatory environment (and in health services they do), and for funding essential health care.

But in the case of good governance, there is no choice other than to work with and support Aboriginal community organisations.

• Professor Dwyer and colleagues were funded by the Lowitja Institute and its predecessor the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, and she spoke about the impact of the research at the Lowitja Institute’s biennial congress held at the MCG earlier this month.

If the Federal Government really wants to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health

Pictured above Selwyn Button, CEO of the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC),one of the key speakers at the NACCHO AGM members meeting 2012 in Brisbane where the theme was  “Our business,Our way- Governance”

In the article below, Selwyn  argues that the focus of government reporting requirements should shift to looking at outcomes rather than inputs He also argues that real health service improvement will be driven by communities themselves, rather than by government contracts.

The priority should be to build and develop “the capacity of our communities to ask the hard questions of their local organisations,” he says.

We acknowledge the continued support of Melissa Sweet CROAKEY

***

Our communities will drive health service reform better than input-focused government contracts

Selwyn Button writes:

Over the past 12 months, community controlled services across the country have entered into new contractual relationships with major funding bodies, predominantly the Federal Health Department, to support the improvement of health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country.

Through this process we have seen significant new investment in community controlled service delivery, which is a welcome move, whilst also ensuring that organisations remain accountable to government for the resources they received through a range of new reporting measures, streamlined into a single agreement.

This was a major recommendation from the Overburden Report, compiled by Professor Judith Dwyer and her colleagues in 2009, that sought to make sense of complexities in funding arrangements for community controlled organisations, to support greater focus on service delivery as opposed to administration and compliance.

Finally, governments had started to listen to what their funded research was telling them.

What this new contract relationship should have created was an environment where community controlled health services could focus on doing what they do best – providing quality health care to our people. It would have been an ideal opportunity to also right the service-provider relationship – where Governments purchased quality health care outcomes not administrative outcomes.

Only months before the commencement of the 2011/2012 financial year, representatives from the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH), which happens to be the major funder of primary health services across the country for our people, undertook a road show across the country to highlight and discuss impending changes to the contractual relationship between governments and community controlled services.

Workshops were held in every State and Territory capital city, with a view to ensuring that all stakeholders were aware of impending changes and outline how new contracts and explanatory handbooks would support improved understanding of demands on services and expectations from government. When establishing solid relationships between purchasers of services and providers of health care, it is important for both parties to understand each other’s needs and how to address concerns throughout the contract period.

Many of these workshops left participants more confused than before commencing, although left some glimmer of hope that there would be some joint work around the ongoing development and updating of the Funding Agreement Handbook, which would be used as a guide for both OATSIH and community controlled service staff.

Unfortunately, at this point and still today, there is no clear indication from OATSIH what they are seeking to purchase from community controlled services.

The contracts outline priority areas for program delivery, with a focus on inputs such as primary health care, social and emotional well-being, child and maternal health etc, without providing clear indication of what OATSIH want to achieve across all areas, other than to say it all contributes to the six Close the Gap National targets.

They don’t however provide solid links between health service outcomes and their known impact on clients’ health outcomes.

Consequently, we can only draw one conclusion from this confused contractual state: that governments do not yet truly understand what it is they want to purchase in terms of Indigenous health outcomes.

A focus on inputs rather than outputs

Community controlled services have and will continue to preach that comprehensive primary health care is needed for the health of our people.

Community controlled health service delivery commenced on the premise that to achieve the best health outcomes for our people, we need to provide comprehensive services, not just your average primary care services, and consequently there has been much attention across the sector to build and strengthen this approach over time, with great outcomes.

Furthermore, we can assume that the fundamental notion of a formidable purchaser/provider relationship is not a priority, as governments want to continue the notion of providing grant monies to community controlled organisations tied to a range of preventative measures that are not necessarily related to performance in health service provision.

Perhaps Governments are simply not ready to move to purchaser provider relationships where outcomes and not inputs are the contractual foundations.

How do we draw these conclusions?

Firstly, I am yet to hear complaints from any community controlled service across the country that is ever questioned by OATSIH in relation to a lack of health assessments completed over a quarterly reporting period.

Rather, much of these contractual discussions centre around questions concerning governance models, constitutional changes, budget expenditure against unreported items, employee fractions on projects and other related things. Is it that Government believes such matters are a better indication of performance by each service?

Again Government remain focussed on inputs and monitoring administrative functions of service providers rather than focussing on health outcomes delivered.

Don’t get me wrong, all of the aforementioned items are important in the broader scheme of running successful businesses, although these fundamental questions should be resolved at the time of developing and endorsing relevant annual Action Plans and related project budgets.

Building capacity of community controlled organisations to do this consistently will enable and inform successful new business models to support health outcomes, and we are already starting to see this happen in many areas.

This process is being developed and led by the sector itself, which is a clear demonstration of organisational maturity and growth to support outcomes for our people. The sector must and should continue to be responsible for internal reform and improvements, whilst also setting higher expectations for itself, rather than be dictated to by governments.

What I am advocating, though, is that quarterly discussions are better spent on performance outputs and outcomes that can lead to improved health benefits for clients.

This process is not what a purchaser/provider relationship should look like when governments are attempting to purchase quality health services to support outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Government push for control

The current contractual relationship enables and supports ongoing government manipulation of community controlled organisations in a manner they believe will benefit communities the most. Admittedly, there are circumstances across the country where this is required, although experiences tell us that community controlled services are already delivering the best health outcomes for their own people and this is not being supported to continue and strengthen.

More concerning with the current contractual arrangement is Government seeking to ensure they can run community controlled organisations from within their departments, again evidenced in the contractual focus on day-to-day operations and inputs.

What we need at this point is not for governments to assume and attempt to maintain total control over community organisations, nor do we wish for community controlled organisations to think that they can do as they please with no accountabilities to anyone, as this is not community controlled either.

Given the growth in organisational maturity and experience in health service delivery, community controlled services are seeking to assume responsibility as the major provider of health care to our own people.

Although with this responsibility comes greater accountability, but not just to government but our accountability must be to the communities we serve, through robust reporting and monitoring mechanisms that are designed to provide clients and community with relevant information and data to meet their needs.

Governments will continue to seek improved accountability through contractual relationships, although this needs to improve and give recognition to existing processes, like those already compulsory for organisations through clinical and organisational accreditation processes.

The development of relevant Action Plans and budgets for government and community are and still should be essential, although ongoing monitoring of performance can be better achieved through focussing upon health outputs and outcomes that will lead to fundamental change.

Reporting to communities

Additionally ensuring that all organisations are regularly reporting to their local communities will further drive transparency in organisations, consequently leading to improved outcomes that can be measured competently by both community and government.

This is the relationship we need to start building and developing: the capacity of our communities to ask the hard questions of their local organisations, which demands far greater weight and attention than that of governments.

In Queensland, these reforms have commenced and we are starting to see a dramatic shift in community interactions with their local community controlled service because of it.

We now need to see this spread across the country so that the people who need high quality health services the most, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, are demanding it from their local service and seeking to ensure it continues to improve and grow.

The challenge for governments in all of this is to determine what role they are seeking to play in supporting this reform process.

Are they still wanting to remain in an old grant provision mentality of providing resources to our services that are restricted by a range of reporting and compliance requirements?

Or do they seek to see fundamental change in health outcomes through new relationships that pay tribute to services that are providing high quality health care for our people and achieving relevant outcomes?

This shift requires significant attitudinal change by governments, reflected in the language they use, and demonstrated in contractual relationships that support and enable services to do their jobs, rather than restrict them into long-winded reporting regimes.

Then we will see real improvements and communities openly demanding further improvements from their local service.

• You can follow Selwyn Button on Twitter

 

New funding to help communities commemorate National Apology anniversary closes 13 Dec

Applications for the Healing Foundation’s funding round close on 13 December, with successful applicants expected to be notified by 20 December 2012.

Indigenous communities and organisations across the country are encouraged to apply for Australian Government funding to help them commemorate and celebrate the fifth anniversary of the National Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples.

 The Government is providing $100,000 to the Healing Foundation to support community-led activities. 

Groups can apply for amounts of $500 and $1,000 to hold grassroots events in their communities on or around the anniversary of the National Apology on 13 February next year.

 The funding will help organisations to:

  • Commemorate the National Apology to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and, in particular, the Stolen Generations;
  • Celebrate the people, programs and activities that are healing and strengthening communities;
  • Raise awareness of the National Apology and tell the story of the Stolen Generations;
  • Highlight the history and issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities and the healing that has taken place; and
  • Bring together communities, young and old, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to celebrate Indigenous contributions to Australian life.

The Government’s National Apology on behalf of all Australians on 13 February 2008 was a formal acknowledgement of the profound pain and suffering caused by past government policies and practices. 

The Government has committed more than $26 million to establish the Healing Foundation, an Indigenous-run organisation that supports the development of successful models to address trauma and healing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The commemoration of the National Apology provides an important opportunity to celebrate the people, programs and activities that have helped in the healing process for Stolen Generations and communities.

 Applications for the Healing Foundation’s funding round close on 13 December, with successful applicants expected to be notified by 20 December 2012.

For more information, visit the Healing Foundation’s website at:

www.healingfoundation.org.au

Date: 27 November 2012

Media Contact: Gerard Richardson 0417 066 818

Funding for projects $4.5M to help prevent suicide in Aboriginal communities close 21 December

Up to $4.5 million in funding for projects to tackle the high rate of Indigenous suicide are now available for application until 21 December.

Minister for Mental Health Mark Butler said community-led projects targeting suicide prevention were an important part of addressing issue.

“Funding for projects specifically targeting suicide prevention in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is a vital part of the Government’s suicide prevention strategy.”

“We have redoubled our efforts in suicide prevention through our $166 million Taking Action to Tackle Suicide package and $126.8 million National Suicide Prevention Program. Together these programs invest $292.8 million in vital programs and services.”

“Five community-based Indigenous suicide projects received $1.5 million last year and now a further $4.5 million is being offered to help fund further community-led projects to tackle Indigenous suicide,” Mr Butler said.

This funding compliments the Federal Government’s work on suicide prevention for indigenous communities including the establishment of an advisory group to inform the development of Australia’s first national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy.

“We’ve also committed $10.1 million through the National Suicide Prevention Program for activity specifically targeting Indigenous peoples and their communities.”

“As part of the governments mental health reform package $206 million was provided to double the size of the Allied Psychological Services program which includes $36.5 million for Indigenous specific psychological services which are delivered in a culturally appropriate manner which will support around 18,000 Indigenous Australians.”

Mr Butler encouraged people interested in learning more about the strategy to visit

www.indigenoussuicideprevention.org.au

Guidelines for applications to the Supporting communities to reduce the risk of suicide (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander component) can be downloaded via

www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/mental-scrrsab-guide.

 

The changing face of Aboriginal Australia: 2011 Census released

Photo supplied by Congress Alice Springs

Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has a median age of 21 years, compared with 38 years for non-Indigenous people, according to a publication released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.

Director of the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics, Julie Nankervis, said the Census of Population and Housing: Characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011 looks at the 2011 Census statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

 “Overall nearly 550,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were counted in the 2011 Census, which is an increase of 21 per cent from 2006,” said Ms Nankervis.

 “The publication shows children aged under 15 years make up 36 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, compared with 19 per cent of the non-Indigenous population.

“People 65 years and over make up 4 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared to 14 per cent of the non-Indigenous population.

 “In the 2011 Census, we saw that 37 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over have completed Year 12 or higher qualifications, up from 30 per cent in 2006.

“In housing 59 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households rented while 25 per cent owned their homes with a mortgage and 11 per cent owned their homes outright.

 “There was a large increase in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households that had access to an internet connection at 63 per cent, compared to 40 per cent in 2006.

 “Over one-third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over provided unpaid childcare for their children and/or someone else’s children in the two weeks prior to Census, while 13 per cent provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability.

Just over one in ten Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people spoke an Australian Indigenous language at home,” she said.

  • The ABS will continue to release Census products that report statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
  • For comparative statistics between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people, see the 2076.0 publication.
  • These products can be accessed on the web for free.

 ABS conducting largest survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has commenced the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health survey which will improve our knowledge of the health issues affecting this group of Australians.

This survey will expand on the 2004-05 survey by increasing the number of participants by 30%, collecting new information on exercise, diet (including bush foods) and measures of cholesterol, blood glucose and iron.

For the first time, the ABS will directly measure obesity and blood pressure levels, as well as nutritional status and chronic disease. By combining the self-reported information together with the biomedical samples, a more complete picture of the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will be available. Importantly this will give us some information about the level of undiagnosed conditions, such as diabetes.

While the biomedical component of the survey is voluntary, our survey champion Cathy Freeman encourages people to get involved as: ‘you will be helping your family, your community, and future generations to live longer healthier lives’.

The survey will be conducted over 2012-13 across the country in cities and remote communities to create evidence to measure progress in improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and contributing to Closing the Gap in life expectancy.

The first survey results will be released in September 2013 and will be used by a wide range of Aboriginal organisations, health researchers, public health advocates, government, clinicians and community health organisations.

Further information and detailed questions and answers are available on the ABS website at www.abs.gov.au/australianhealthsurvey

Supporting mental health and wellbeing to help close the gap:download report card 2012

Congress Co-Chair Jody Broun (picture above) has welcomed the first national mental health report card and its recommendation that that mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples be included in ‘Closing the Gap’ targets.

 “The report’s chapter on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples stresses the importance of mental health and wellbeing to extending life expectancy and in reducing early deaths,” said Co-Chair Broun.

Download the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples report here

 “The necessity of a more holistic approach to Aboriginal health has been a consistent message I have heard during the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan consultations during the past two months.

 “That is, that health and wellbeing, culture and family are all linked with our physical health.

 “For example the report highlights what many of us see in our own families and communities – the impact of trauma and grief which contributes to self-harm and high levels of suicide among our people.

 “At our recent national meeting Congress Members stressed the importance of  access to mental health services, and mental health issues as underlying many of our health and social issues – especially in the justice system.

 “Congress also supports the National Mental Health Commission’s recommendation that key health groups such as Congress, the National Health Leadership Forum, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation(NACCHO) , the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation and the Australian Indigenous Psychologists’ Association be central to decision making about health and mental health in Australia,” said Co-Chair Broun.

 “The information in the report card should also play an important role in informing the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan,” she concluded.

 DOWNLOAD REPORT HERE

Contact: Liz Willis 0457 877 408

Federal Government:FIRST NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH REPORT CARD RELEASED

Minister for Mental Health Mark Butler today welcomed the release of National Mental Health Commission’s first National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.

The annual Report Card was a 2010 election commitment of the Gillard Government and forms a central part of the Government’s record $2.2 billion mental health reform plan.

Mr Butler said the Report Card reminds us of the significant needs of an estimated 3.2 million Australians each year who live with a mental health issues, and highlights the importance of the Government’s investments to grow and improve the mental health system.

“We asked the National Mental Health Commission to put Australia’s mental health services under the spotlight to give us insights into service gaps, where governments need to do more and where services are working well,” Mr Butler said.

“The Report Card has highlighted important areas for reform to support better outcomes for people with mental illness in areas such as employment, physical health and housing.”

“The Report Card will be produced by the Commission every year from 2012 onwards and will provide guidance to all governments.”

“The Commission’s work reminds us that meaningful and strategic progress will require partnership between consumers, carers, all governments, NGOs and mental health professionals.”

Mr Butler thanked the Commission, led by Professor Allan Fels, for its work saying the Report Card highlighted key strategic objectives to the overall improvement of the system that supports people with mental illness.

“The Report Card challenges all of us – government, services providers, professionals and the broader community – to better support those living with and recovering from mental illness to live a contributing life.”

The Report card notes the need for all governments to work together and invest in better services for people with mental illness.

“The Gillard Government’s $200 million National Partnership Agreement with the states and territories – which forms part of the national reform plan – has seen a renewed emphasis on the way mainstream services like hospitals and housing respond to the needs of people with mental illness.”

“But the Report Card says there is significant work to be done by states and territories, including to ensure people are not discharged from state-based mental health services and hospitals into homelessness.”

“The Report Card also notes that states and territories need to work on a better, more consistent approach to seclusion, restraint and involuntary treatment.”

Mr Butler said the Gillard Government’s $2.2 billion mental health reform plan was already having an impact on the ground.

“We’re seeing good progress with the rollout of headspace youth mental health services, the online mental health portal, the expansion of the Access to Allied Psychological Services program and more personal helpers and mentors.”

“But what is clear from this Report Card is that there is more road ahead of us than there is behind us and we all need to take up the challenge of working together to build a better service system – a more inclusive society – for people with mental illness.”

Help us train a doctor for your ACCH service.

Dear Colleague,

NACCHO and the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS) would very much appreciate a few minutes of your, or your delegate’s time in completing a brief survey online.

This is because, as you will know, so many Aboriginal community controlled organisations find it challenging to attract and retain sufficient medical staff.

RVTS is a workforce recruitment and retention program.

 It does this by allowing doctors to train towards general practice (FRACGP and/or FACRRM) qualifications without having to leave their practice/community. 

The ability to train in this way assists practices in the recruitment and retention of doctors.

Doctors without general registration may also be able to train in the program.

Currently the eligibility to train with RVTS is limited to remote practice.

 There is an opportunity to extend RVTS training to include all ACCHSs whether or not they are remote. 

To do this, however, we need to secure funding from the Commonwealth Government.

In order to achieve this, we need to be able to demonstrate the need for such a service.

This is where you can help us by completing the survey at:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NACCHO-RVTS

We hope you can find the time to complete this survey by Midday(12pm) Monday 10 December 2012. 

Your responses will be treated in strict confidence, and the survey responses will be deleted upon finalisation of the survey results.

In any reports from the survey, all responses will be de-identified.

We will, however, make sure you receive a copy of the final analysis of survey results for your own interest.

Please call Jeanette McLaren on 02 6057 4300 if you would like to discuss this invitation further.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Yours Sincerely,

Ms Lisa Biggs                                                                          Dr Pat Giddings

CEO, NACCHO                                                                         CEO, RVTS

Go rural, go bush! Govt backs national health career campaign

A national campaign to attract young doctors and medical students to rural practice is being launched this month with the backing of the Federal Government.

The Go Rural Australia campaign showcases the lifestyle and professional benefits of careers in rural medicine, including access to some of the best training experiences in the country.

It is being run by Rural Health Workforce Australia in partnership with the national network of not-for-profit Rural Workforce Agencies.

“Rural health is a fantastic work-life opportunity and we want to share that message with the future health workforce,” says RHWA CEO Greg Sam.

“There’s also never been a better time to go rural, with Government incentives for students and relocation payments for city doctors.

“The key to this campaign is the involvement of our Rural Workforce Agencies, located in every State and the Northern Territory. They are a one-stop-shop for rural health careers and can help young professionals at every step of their journey.”

Over the next year, the agencies are running a series of Go Rural Australia events including rural skills training, information evenings and regional bus tours.

Sixty medical students have been invited to the Go Rural Australia launch on 30 November, at an event hosted in Sydney by the NSW Rural Doctors Network in association with its annual rural GP conference.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Territory next week, eight medical students will get to experience medicine and skills training in Central Australia as part of a visit organised by NT Health Workforce.

Other campaign partners are Rural Workforce Agency Victoria, Health Workforce Queensland, RDWA in South Australia, Rural Health West in WA, and Health Recruitment Plus-Tasmania.

Go Rural Australia is funded by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing.

Find out more at

 www.rhwa.org.au/gorural

 Media inquiries: Tony Wells, RHWA Communications Manager, 0417 627 916