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CHN, ACT’s PHN is committed to improving access to high quality, culturally safe and responsive health services for the First Nations peoples in the ACT. As one of the key priority areas for our PHN, the betterment of health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continues to be a major focus. CHN continues to strive to work with local First Nations people and organisations to bridge gaps, decrease barriers to health care, and build support and capacity in the First Nations health workforce.
Cultural awareness/safety and practice improvement activities
CHN partnered with Coolamon Advisors to provide Cultural Awareness Training for 3 key cohorts: primary health care providers, staff in services commissioned by CHN and CHN internal staff. Six training sessions were held, with content covering various topics, including the history and impact of colonisation in Australia, ongoing psychosocial and health impacts on First Nations peoples, cultural safety considerations in a health care setting, and understanding differences in the understanding of health, wellness, time, family/kinship and communication between western and First Nations societies. Over the last year, CHN and Coolamon Advisors provided Cultural Awareness Training to 124 local medical professionals and community health workers.
CHN has attended allied health services and general practices to educate medical professionals on cultural safety measures they should employ in order to better service their First Nations patients. Education have been provided at CHN educational events (e.g. Practice Connect) to encourage the uptake of priority MBS Items like the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Assessment (MBS Item 715), and referral to local services that may improve health care access for First Nations patients of professionals or practices in attendance.
Tools, service, improvement measures and information has been provided to practices and practitioners through regular CHN newsletters. This includes promoting HealthPathways, educational events, “CHN’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Toolkit for General Practice” and providing up-to-date and topical reports and articles to help practitioners better understand the current needs of the First Nations population.
Testimonial
Feedback received from attendees of our Cultural Awareness Training sessions indicated that the content was 100% relevant to the work of the audience. Attendees also highly rated the degree to which learning outcomes were delivered during their sessions, with 80% responding they were entirely met.
Respondents to the post event survey commented that as a result of attending the training they would:
- “Keep in mind the different worldview of people from Indigenous backgrounds and ask open-ended questions.”
- “Seek more stories/contact with local communities.”
- “Hold staff even more accountable for self-education on First Nations’ issues.”
One attendee emailed CHN with:
- “The training was amazing. The only feedback is we would have loved it to be longer. It was by far the best cultural awareness training we have attended and would highly recommend it to anyone.”