Improving Access To Health Care For Indigenous Australians

Access to Health Care and Indigenous Communities

Most of the current studies in Australia have focused on how to improve the life expectancy and health of indigenous Australians. Like any other colonized population, comparing with the non-indigenous population, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have inadequate  access to health (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2015, the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Non-indigenous Australian is 9.5 years for males and 7.6 years for females. This might due to the fact that, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander often faced by difficulties to access adequate primary health care services(Al-Yaman, 2017b). Accessibility to proper health care requires more than just providing services that within easy reach. Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders maintain  appropriate access to health care can be complex since they are always faced with vast difficulties and additional barriers such as racism, discrimination, poor social-economic status, culture and lack of enough government support(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). A major challenge that often contribute to poor access to health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is inequality(Munns et al., 2018). The major disparity that demonstrates inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander is shown in two major healthcare sections which include access to primary health care and health infrastructure(NSW Ministry of Health, 2013). This study aims to demonstrate the level of accesses to health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. In addition, the study seeks to show different barriers of health for the indigenous population, community needs assessment, strategies that can be put into action to improve the accesses of health care and provide recommendations.

Access to healthcare and services is a significant determinant on the health quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Access is usually evaluated by monitoring the use of health services and through factors such as waiting times for care. (MacPhail & McKay, 2018) In addition, the evaluation of adequate access can also be determined needs of care since individuals with more health care needs normally access more health services than those with fewer needs(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2016). In Australia, health care’s services are delivered to people through various means. These include the preventive health services which encompass screening and immunization programs, hospital care including both inpatient and outpatient services and primary and community health services(Smylie & Firestone, 2016). There the major broad streams of health care delivery also provide specialized care including drugs and alcohol treatment, mental illness, and hearing services. 

Barriers to Accessing Health Care for Indigenous Australians

Measuring access to health care is multidimensional in nature thus it is complex. Access is evaluated using measures such as time of care, distance, financial aspects, social and cultural aspects(Bailie et al., 2017). Health care services can be targeted to the specific communities such as the Aboriginal people. About 75% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in major cities where majority of  health services are readily available(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). However, those services are not usually available for Indigenous population due to various reasons such as geographic, cultural and social reasons(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2016). Adequate acccess of primary health care is crucial for everyone as it is usually the first personal contact with health care. Therefore, indigenous-specific services are significathe nt in ensuring the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people can easily access healthcare services.

Identifying all barriers of access to health care for indigenous people can be crucial in making policy decisions and planning for healthcare(Welfare, 2015). The AIWH has revealed various geographical areas where gaps still exist for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Majority of these areas are located in Western Australia and Queensland. The relative distribution of both human and capital resources is poor in these areas(AIHW, 2017). This form one of the major barrier to access to health for the indigenous community(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). Vast of both communicable and noncommunicable diseases are common which had led to poor personal health and life expectancy.

Rationale of the study

It is commonly known that the causes of injuries and illness for a given group of people are from personal, social and environmental factors. However, the healthcare systems assist in the treatment and prevention of illnesses as guided by human rights and policies(Spurling, Askew, Schluter, & Hayman, 2013). The healthcare provides immediate response to chronic and acute illnesses, protect people’s health through screening and early interventions(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)., 2016). Evidence shows that timely health care delivery can increase the life expectancy for the indigenous community(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014). Barriers in health care access to the indigenous population can lead to inequality in health status. Therefore, determining the barriers to access and strategies required to close such barriers is important as it helps in reducing the gap in life expectancy and making new policies. 

This study is guided by the basic framework and the use of mixed research methods. The current statistics from AIWH and Department of health websites have been used to determine the barriers of access to health care by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the impacts of poor access to the community concerned. In addition, the statistics tend to demonstrate what could be improved, the missing gaps and necessary actions that can be implemented. Below is a table of a basic framework that was used in research.

Stakeholders and Impact

(Al-Yaman, 2017a)

Population and Community Profile

In 2014, there were about 24 million Australians of which the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consisted of 713,600 individuals accounting for 3% of the total population. In 2011, almost two-thirds of Torres Islander people lived in Queensland of which the total number of the population in the whole country accounted for 63,700 people(Queensland Health, 2018). The birth rate for indigenous women was 2.3 babies per woman and the average number of children born to Aboriginal and Torres Islander aged 40-44 reduced to 2.63 in 2011 as compared to 1981 where it was 4.55 children per woman(Tsey et al., 2014). Most of the indigenous population live in non-remote areas but comparing with non-indigenous population the percentage of those who live in remote areas is high as it consists of 21% and 2% respectively(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). Below is a table that compares the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population by remoteness.

Stakeholders

Barriers to access to health care affect the entire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander thus bringing effects to the whole community. This is due to the fact that, the burden of diseases in a country increases thus affecting the economic progress of the whole country(The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014). The stakeholders for this study include the Government, non-government organization, the community at large and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people(Couzos, Delaney-Thiele, & Page, 2016). Below is a table that demonstrates how each stakeholder is involved and their corresponding impacts.  

Identified Key issues

Several key issues were identified and in a single phase.  through the use of mixed methods of research mixed qualitative with quantitative dataset were identified as major barriers contributing to poor access to health care services by the Indigenous Australians. The issues were classified according to the statistics obtained from the AIWH and department of health publication reports. Below are the key issues identified with their different statistics.

• About 21.4% of the indigenous population lives in remote and very remote areas where access to health care is limited.
• In 2015, 87% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under the age of five were enrolled in schooling as compared to 96% in non-indigenous. Furthermore, the proportion of indigenous students achieving higher grades as compared to non-indigenous students in high schools and colleges were 71% and 83% respectively(Deravin, Francis, & Anderson, 2018).
• The employment rate in 2014 for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged between 15 to 64 was at 48.4% as compared to non- indigenous Australians which was at 72.6% bring a different of 24.4%(Smylie & Firestone, 2016).
• Most of indigenous Australia classified themselves as middle or lower class in 2015 as compared to nonindigenous Australia.
• In 2016, the government offered 33.4 billion dollars for indigenous direct expenditure where only 6 billion were only produced for indigenous-specific target services indicating inadequate support.
• Majority of indigenous Australians experiences racism and discrimination during health care delivery as compared to non-indigenous Australians(Deravin et al., 2018).
• Between 2008 and 2009, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander was admitted to the hospital with a high number of potentially preventable conditions than the non-indigenous population. More than a half accounting for 55% were admitted for chronic conditions, 43% were for the acute conditions and 2 % were for vaccine-preventable conditions(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2018). The overall potential of the preventable condition in the same year for the indigenous community was 5 times greater than other non- indigenous population.
• As recommended, every person in Australia is subjected to health screening and assessment check. However, in 2006, only 76 child checks were recorded in 1000 children under the age of 15, only 61 adults check were recorded for individual aged 16-54 per 1000 patients and 115 older populations were recorded per 1000 individuals(Jamieson et al., 2012). 

Prioritization of major key issues

The key issues were prioritized in terms of the effects and the occurrence in the statistics available. The following four key issues were identified.

1 Remoteness of the regions and the geographical distribution of health services

2 lack of employment and social economic status

3 Literacy and education

4 Inadequate government supports.

With those four key areas identified, the strategic plans were created in order to make an effective program.

Key Issues and Strategic Plans

The major aim of this program is to maximize the accessibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander by reducing the gap and barriers that inhibit accessibility.

Priority 1 To increase Geographical Distribution of Health services in the remote areas

Considering the fact that people cannot be migrated from their homes to suburb areas where there are major health facilities, other means need to be established to make sure that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in the rural areas receive adequate primary and preventive health services. This includes the following;

1. Established well-equipped health facilities in rural areas with enough medical supplies and human resources
2. Create a national policy plan that makes sure all population receives an equitable distribution of resources regardless of where they are(Spurling et al., 2013).

Priority 2 To improve employment and social economic status

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander should be supported by the government with disparity and be offered more employment opportunities across all sectors(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2016). This should be done through various ways including simplifying the application process, career development, mentorship, and ongoing appointments, plus cultural awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander the need for training and education(Leason, 2018).

priority 3 To improve the level of education among the young indigenous population for the future.

A gap exists in both performance and attendance between the indigenous community and nonindigenous population(Kehoe & Lovett, 2012). The most important aspect that can be used to improve the children’s attendance at school is through retention and scholarships after high school to higher education. An individual with better education have a better understanding of the importance of health thus can better access to health care. 

Increase adequate government support to the indigenous community.

By establishing proper funding for the indigenous population,  the specific indigenous targeted health care can help those who have poor access to health care. This can be done through the development of policies and implementation(The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014).

Barriers to access to health care have been attributed to increasing the gap of life expectancy between the indigenous and nonindigenous population. The study has compared the assessability of health care between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non indigenous population in order to bring a well elaborate picture. In the study, various barriers have been analysed and prioritized from the most affecting one to the list. Comparing with the background information, the statistics from the AIWH and the Department of Health websites have concurred with the fact that the inequitable distribution of resources in various geographical areas have contributed largely  to be a major barrier to poor access to health care Indigenous people (Jamieson et al., 2012). This is may due to the fact that, a larger percentage of indigenous population living in remote and very remote areas is high as compared to non-indigenous population. Other factors such as education and employment have been studied in the literature as the social determinants of health. In terms of accessibility, the more educated people with higher incomes have high possibilities of accessing health care as they are likely to be living in urban areas and major towns where there are major health care systems(Deravin et al., 2018). Poor government support has risen to be the fourth leading factor that makes it difficult for aboriginal and Torres strait islander to access health care majority due to the failure of enough financial support to the indigenous specific healthcare needs specialists.

Recommendations

The following are the recommendation for the study;

• The government should develop policies that enhance equal distribution of health care to the remote areas. This will, in turn, reduce the rate of hospitalization of preventable illness for the indigenous community thus reducing the gap that exists in terms of life expectancy and quality of health.
• The government, non-government organizations, local governments and health care professional should come together and hold campings to the general public advising them on the major social determinants of health that usually acts as barriers to access to health care in order to improve health delivery.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, barriers to access to better health care for Aboriginal and Torress Strait Islander are vast since the general quality of health and life expectancy as compared to non-indigenous people low. This is due to factors such as unequal distribution and remoteness of the area the community lives, lack of employment and poor government support, education inadequate access to primary and preventive care and other social determinants of health. With the adequate program and action plan that provide adequate strategies, such gaps can be reduced. More studies are needed to be done on the same in order to improve the current literature and policies that can be used to protect the quality of health for the future generation.

The area of the topic I wished to discuss was about the barriers to access to health care for the Indigenous people. It is the responsibility of all health care professional to take care and advocate for their patients. All people in Australia have equal opportunity to receive quality health care as provided by law. Therefore, improving the access for the disatagious group will not only improve the health care but also increase life expectancy and personal dignity of different individuals. The most concerning issue that made me choose the topic is due to how I see various indigenous people struggles to access the health care delivery. In the hospital, I often see how the Indigenous people stay for days without receiving services such as elective surgery. Other than that, I have never seen a member of indigenous community attempting to go to private hospitals for care. In the hospital, I have experienced few occasions where most of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients dies due to preventive conditions. This made me think about what could possibly be the reason for such scenarios.

The topic becomes interested in me due to various reasons. First, the topic addresses the most critical aspect of health care which includes the primary prevention and preventive care. The preventive care services are very crucial since they reduce the burden of diseases and prevent unwanted hospitalizations. On the other hand, the topic addresses the first line of care other than hospital care as it intends to promote the health of both sick and healthier individuals. What I have learned most are strategies that can be used to promote access to health care for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. These include strategies such as advocating for public campaigns that can be used to teach people the importance of education and employment in the fight for diseases prevention through hindering the barriers of access of care and the role of government and non –governmental organizations. Some of the new knowledge I have learned are educating the young nation could possibly reduce barriers to access for health care in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in the future and the impacts of having more children when it comes to the cost of health and services. Most of the literature and statistics marched with my own experience and what I have read before. This includes areas like the geographical location in remote areas since I had a prior knowledge. However, there are some areas I did not knew it could actually prevent access to healthcare for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. I did not have a strong belief that barriers like discrimination and government funding to specific indigenous groups have such enormous effect. 

Conclusion

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