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Regions
In partnership with Closing the Health Gap advisory committees, all Department of Health regions developed Closing the Health Gap plans and related resources to ensure local needs and priorities are addressed.
- Barwon South Western Region - Closing the health gap
- The Barwon South Western Region have identified six key projects to improve Aboriginal health outcomes in the region. These are:
- Wathaurong - To Keep the Mob Alive project
- Dhauwurd Wurrung - Delivering Deadly Services in Southern Grampians and Glenelg
- Oubliette Revelations Productions – Journey to Common Ground project
- South West Consortia - Aboriginal Youth and Alcohol/Drugs/Mental Health project
- Winda Mara - Making Indigenous health everyone’s business - South West project
- Regional closing the health gap coordination.
The Barwon South Western regional closing the health gap plan has been developed with, and endorsed by, the regional advisory committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, Local Indigenous Networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
Barwon South Western closing the health gap plan 2009-13
- Eastern Metropolitan Region - Closing the health gap
- With an overarching focus on healthy transition to adulthood across all actions, priorities for closing the health gap in the Eastern Metropolitan Region fall under two broad areas for implementation: health service system priorities and partnership priorities.
Health service system priorities
- Embed cultural competency among the region’s health and family violence service providers.
- Reduce barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access the region’s health services.
- Improve health pathways, reduce the onset of chronic conditions and increase healthy behaviours.
- Tackle smoking.
- Implement the plan; analyse and distribute data; develop and manage a communication strategy; evaluate.
Partnership priorities
- Increase school retention and build parenting capacity.
- Partner across government to reduce the negative impacts of the social determinants of health.
- Reduce the health impact of family violence for young people and families.
The region’s priorities intersect with the Victorian priority areas and reflect a strong partnership approach with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal service providers.
The Eastern Metropolitan Region Closing the Health Gap plan has been developed with and is endorsed by the regional Closing the Health Gap Advisory Committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, local Indigenous networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
Download documents
The Eastern Metro Region plan was launched on Friday 27 August 2010 at Queens Park in Healesville.
- Gippsland Region - Closing the health gap
- The Gippsland region have identified a broad range of initiatives for implementation across the region with a particular focus on chronic disease management, increasing Aboriginal employment in the health sector and increased focus on Aboriginal health across universal health service providers.
In summary the program will provide:
- a comprehensive smoking cessation program delivered in conjunction with regional resources allocated under the National tobacco strategy
- a comprehensive regional workforce development program for the Aboriginal health workforce
- a strengthening of the capacity of the identified seven local sites to deliver coordinated and effective health services that address the five priority areas
- in conjunction with the divisions of general practice, assistance for primary care services including general practices to ensure they are accessible to Aboriginal people
- promotion of the successful models of practice already in existence such as Djillay Ngalu and the proposed consortia model for Wellington, Central and West Gippsland subregion
- commitment by all public health services to meet a target of Aboriginal employment to at least 1 per cent of the workforce
- reporting by all public health services on how they are addressing their responsibilities under the Improving Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Patients (ICAP) program
- locally driven health-related programs for each district to assist with the transition from youth to adulthood, and a focus on healthy eating and physical activity
- locally driven health promotion programs for men in each district to ensure their engagement with health services.
Gippsland closing the health gap plan 2009-13More information on some of the new closing the health gap programs and initiatives in your local area can be found here:
Supporting patients travelling to attend specialist medical appointments - Grampians Region - Closing the health gap
- The Grampians region have identified a broad range of initiatives aimed at improving health care provided to Aboriginal people with a particular emphasis on building the capacity of Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations and strengthening partnerships with universal health care providers. The plan allocates funding to resource the further development and implementation of initiatives that:
- reduce service fragmentation and a silo approach to delivering health and wellbeing services
- reduce the prevalence and impact of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, with the objective of improving access to quality primary health service provision
- increase the capacity and capability of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and other local primary health services to meet the health and wellbeing needs of the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
The Grampians Region Closing the Health Gap plan has been developed with, and endorsed by, the regional advisory committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, Local Indigenous Networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
- Hume Region - Closing the health gap
- After undertaking a rigorous planning process between September 2009 and February 2010, the Hume Region Closing the Health Gap Steering Committee endorsed the Hume region closing the health gap plan which provides a clear plan of action to address the requirements of the COAG Indigenous health partnership agreement, while also tackling the specific health needs of Aboriginal people living in the Hume Region.
The five priorities for action in closing the health gap in the Hume Region are:
- improve the interface (client journey) between hospital and primary care services in the Hume Region
- increase the cultural competency of the service system across the Hume region
- identify health needs and develop service models for the Aboriginal communities living in the Central Hume and Lower Hume Primary Care Partnership (PCP) catchment areas
- improve the services and programs available to address the health and wellbeing of young Aboriginal women living in the Hume Region
- reduce the rate of tobacco use in the Aboriginal communities in the Hume Region.
The Hume regional closing the health gap plan has been developed with, and endorsed by, the regional advisory committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, Local Indigenous Networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
Download documents
The Hume Region plan was launched on Friday 27 August 2010 at Seymour District Memorial Hospital.
- Loddon Mallee Region - Closing the health gap
- In 2009, Loddon Mallee Region undertook a needs analysis of Aboriginal health to inform the development of the Loddon Mallee region closing the health gap plan. Based on the needs and proposals identified through this process, the plan maps out activities to occur over the next four years.
Central to the region’s plan is the recognition of the need for strong, supported partnerships between Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and mainstream health services. As there are five Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in the region, the plan identifies the need for five separate geographic partnerships based around the five Aboriginal community-controlled organisations service areas.
The Loddon Mallee regional closing the health gap plan has been developed with, and endorsed by, the regional advisory committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, local Indigenous networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
Download documents
The Loddon Mallee Region plan was launched at the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative.
- North and West Metropolitan Region - Closing the health gap
- The decision-making framework enabled the committee to identify three areas for action in the first year:
- identifying/screening for health issues among vulnerable children, youth, adults and the elderly in the North and West Metropolitan Region
- engaging Aboriginal people to assist understanding and acceptance of screening and need to follow up the health issues identified
- helping Aboriginal people navigate the North and West Metropolitan Region health system, once issues are identified and the need for more complex help is recognised.
Six projects that address the three areas for action have been scheduled to begin in 2009–10. The North and West Metropolitan Region is working with the advisory committee to develop a four-year Closing the Health Gap implementation plan.
- Southern Metropolitan - Closing the health gap
- The Southern Metropolitan Region Closing the Health Gap plan has been developed in the context of a number of rapidly growing and geographically distinct Aboriginal communities with differing needs and priorities, and a very small number of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in the region. The region’s Closing the Health Gap project offers great opportunities to improve regional service coordination, responsiveness and cultural competence between and within both the Aboriginal and mainstream health sectors.
The Southern Metropolitan Region Closing the Health Gap plan has been developed with and is endorsed by the regional Closing the Health Gap Advisory Committee, which includes representation from Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, local Indigenous networks, divisions of general practice and mainstream health service providers.
Download documents
Southern Metropolitan closing the health gap plan 2009-13The region’s plan was launched on Thursday 15 July 2010 at Peninsula Health’s Koori Kitchen in Frankston.
For copies of the appendices to the plan please contact Patsy Morrison on (03) 8710 2812.
Southern Metropolitan Regional Newsletters
Closing the Gap - Southern Metro Region, February 2012 newsletter Closing the Gap - Southern Metro Region, December 2011 newsletter
