Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' Well-being: A Report

This report analyzes the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, focusing on a case study of an Indigenous Australian patient named Matt. It discusses the Closing the Gap initiative, the AHRC report, and the funding myth surrounding Indigenous healthcare. The report examines the roles of patient escorts and Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officers (AHLOs) in improving healthcare outcomes. It emphasizes the importance of cultural respect and educating healthcare professionals. The report concludes that critiquing expenditure on Closing the Gap is fallacious, given the higher disease risk among Indigenous populations, and highlights the need for increased government spending to address healthcare inequalities. The references include several studies and reports related to Indigenous health and well-being.

Running head: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 1
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' wellbeing
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ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 2
Introduction
As a registered nurse, I came across a case of Matt who is an indigenous Australian with
24 years from Palm Island. He was an inpatient waiting to move to the discharge lounge. He is
supposed to travel back to Townsville to be taken care of by his mother. He however
experienced different challenges but since I was confident and good at cultural care, I was able to
overcome the challenges. One of my colleagues however feels that indigenous Australians are
given everything since closing the gap funded travel and accommodation expenses of Matts
Mother. In 2018, the AHRC also published a report critiquing the Australian government over
the same. I feel that all this criticism is unfair since indigenous Australians have a higher burden
of diseases (Ring, Dixon, Lovett, & Al-Yaman, 2016). To achieve equality, it has to spend more.
In this assignment, there will be an analysis of the case study.
Discussion
Closing the Gap vs close the Gap campaign.
With studies agreeing that there exists a huge gap in healthcare between indigenous and
non-indigenous Australians, there was an urgent need of initiatives whose agenda was to propose
ways to eliminate or reduce the disparities (Duke, Kado, Auto, Amini, & Gilbert, 2015). One
such initiative was close the Gap Campaign. This is an initiative by NGOs, human right
organizations and both indigenous and non-indigenous health bodies. All these stakeholders
came together with an objective of achieving universal healthcare and life expectancy between
both the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. It was established back in 2007 and it is
expected that by 2030, their objectives would have been achieved.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 3
The Australian Government was also concerned about the increasing inequalities in
healthcare between the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians and came up with its own
strategies to combat the same. This strategy is known as closing the gap Australian Government
Policy framework (Sibthorpe, Gardner, & McAullay, 2016). In this closing the gap strategy, the
government rolled out certain targets. One of it is to close the gap of life expectancy,
employment, child mortality rates, reading and writing of numeracy. This targets were supposed
to be achieved by 2018.The government also had a target of enrolling 95% of indigenous
children above 4 years to early childhood development schools (McDonald, 2011).The only
difference between the two initiatives is that while close the gap is by different stakeholders,
closing the gap is a government’s initiative. However, both of them have a similar objective, to
eliminate inequalities in healthcare between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
AHRC report and funding myth
In order for the close the Gap campaign to succeed, there is need for substantial
investment or spending by the Australian government. It the AHRC report of 2018, it is very
clear that the campaign is not on course and it is feared that it might never be accomplished
(Wendt, 2017). The funding myth is one of the barriers to the success of the close the gap
campaign.
The 2018 report notes that a section of Australians feel that the government is spending
too much of the taxpayers money towards the close the gap campaign. This is just a myth and
doesn’t hold any substance at all (The Lancet, 2019). This is due to the fact that the indigenous
population is 2.3 times at risk of getting diseases as compared to the non-indigenous Australians.
Furthermore, surveys show that the Australian government spends on $1.38 average per
indigenous person while it spends $1.00 per non-indigenous Australians (Reath & O'Mara,

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 4
2018). This compared with the burden of disease among indigenous communities, is not
proportionate.
The myth about funding of closing the gap by a section of Australians is likely to
paralyze the efforts by the Australian government to achieve universal healthcare across the
country (Georges et al., 2017). In fact achieving this program will save the Australian
government fortunes of resources. It is therefore important for citizens to get facts right before
criticizing government expenditure towards indigenous healthcare.
Patient escort
Patient escorts are people who accompany patients and assist them in different ways.
They play different roles in healthcare. They assist the patient move from an ambulance to the
hospital (Falster et al., 2016). Like in this case study, a patient escort can assist Matt to move to
the discharge lounge. Patient escorts can also assist or carry a patient who is physically impaired
or in a comma to the hospital. Finally, patient escorts can assist the patient and their family
members move from hospitals to their homes.
Patient escort go through different challenges. One of the greatest challenge is the risk of
infections. Studies note that patient escort have to act in emergency situations such as accidents
(Gracey, 2014). Normally, the patient escorts do not have protective clothing such as gloves and
gas masks and are therefore at risk of different infections (Di Pietro & Illes, 2016). A patient
who is bleeding can for example transmit blood borne infections like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis to
the patient escort. Studies also note that patient escorts can sustain physical injuries (Villarosa et
al., 2018). This normally happen if they are rendering their services to violent patients. Patient
escorts play a pivotal role in healthcare as they sometimes act as the link between patients and

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 5
care givers. They should therefore be trained to protect themselves against infections and
injuries.
Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officer
An indigenous Hospital Liaison officer is an individual specifically trained to understand
the needs of indigenous people and ensures they are achieved by liaising with both the
indigenous people, their families and the care givers (Wendt, 2017). They have different roles.
One of the roles is that they assist with discharge planning of indigenous patients. A study by
Cashman et al defines different roles of an AHLO. One such important duty is providing
assistance in discharge planning specifically to indigenous patients. In this case, the AHLO
advocates for proper discharging of indigenous patients (Cashman et al., 2016). The AHLO
should ensure that the patient has been provided with necessary resources that will ensure
smooth transition at home. Furthermore, they also ensure that the patient is educated on
importance of adhering to medication after being discharged. In this particular case study, the
AHLO can ensure that Matt is served with the correct drugs before being discharged.
The AHLO acts as the link between healthcare workers and the indigenous patients and
their families. Studies elaborate that indigenous patients have unique needs in healthcare that can
only be achieved through appropriate interventions (Calma, Dudgeon, & Bray, 2017). The
AHLO therefore advocates or acts as the bridge between the patient and the nurses by telling or
informing each party of what is expected of them. If for example an indigenous patient is not
comfortable with a certain nursing intervention, the AHLO can pass this information to the
nurse. The AHLO therefore sustains mutual relationship between the indigenous patient and the
care givers.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 6
Educate healthcare professionals about the importance of respecting indigenous people.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have unique cultural beliefs and practices. Most of
them would value spirituality for example. In providing person centered and culturally safe
healthcare to them, it is important that medical professionals respect their needs and practices.
The AHLO therefore empowers the medical teams through different sessions and forums about
the importance of respect.
Conclusion
Critiquing expenditure of closing the Gap is just fallacious. The indigenous people are at
higher risk of infections due to their social-cultural and economic status. They are in fact 2.3
times at risk of infection than the non-indigenous Australians. In order to eliminate inequalities
in healthcare, the government has to spend more as seen in the case of Matt where travelling and
accommodation expenses were catered by closing the gap strategy.

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES WELL-BEING 7
References
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Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health. Australian Psychologist, 52(4), 255-260.
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Cashman, P. M., Allan, N. A., Clark, K. K., Butler, M. T., Massey, P. D., & Durrheim, D. N.
(2016). Closing the gap in Australian Aboriginal infant immunisation rates -- the
development and review of a pre-call strategy. BMC Public Health, 16(1).
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Di Pietro, N., & Illes, J. (2016). Closing Gaps: Strength-Based Approaches to Research with
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