Ms Anais Le Gall1, Ms Melissa Morthorpe1, Ms Sharon Storen1, Dr Naomi Luck1
1Capital Health Network – ACT Primary Health Network, Deakin, Australia
In 2018, the ACT Primary Health Network, Capital Health Network (CHN), determined that an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Competency Framework (CCF) was needed to assist the organisation to work in a comprehensive, coordinated way to provide culturally safe and responsive service delivery across all facets of the organisation. The framework was to provide a foundation for building cultural competency throughout the whole organisation and enable us to assess and make improvements to all facets of CHNs core business. From management and governance structures to service delivery and staff development, it was designed to be a living, working document to support the implementation of cultural awareness and safety on an ongoing basis.
The CCF was developed through a partnership with a local indigenous organisation and consists of 16 competencies that link back to the six domains that underpin culturally respectful health service delivery (as per Cultural Respect Framework 2016-2026 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health). The implementation of this framework has involved the establishment of a working group to engage all staff and several activities have been identified on how this work can be implemented in a meaningful way. CHN will be working towards embedding consistent behaviours, attitudes and processes to ensure First Nations people living in the ACT receive a high quality of culturally appropriate care and close the gap in life expectancy and we would like to share our learnings throughout this journey.
Biography:
Anais is a registered nurse with over 20 years experience working in the acute and community setting in ACT, NSW and the UK. Her work in NGOs over the last 6 years, has provided her an opportunity to gain an insight into the primary care environment and integrated health needs. Her current position at CHN as the Senior Manager Health System Improvement, includes overseeing Indigenous Health, Digital Health and the HealthPathways program.