Newsletter for the Central Sydney GP Network Ltd.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s Health Assessment

The Aboriginal Health Assessment provides GPs the opportunity to contribute to closing the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. The aim of the health assessment is to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receive primary health care matched to their needs, by encouraging early detection, diagnosis and intervention for common and treatable conditions that cause morbidity and early mortality.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health assessment (MBS Item 715) covers the full age spectrum and categorised as follows:                             

• Children under 15 years of age
• Adults 15-54
• Older people 55+

Feedback from GP members of CSGPN’s Aboriginal Health Advisory Group is that it can be more comfortable for both GP and patient to conduct the health assessment following an initial appointment. This enables the GP and patient to get to know each other a little before the comprehensive and potentially intrusive health assessment appointment. The health assessment can even be conducted over two appointments if it becomes too arduous or time runs out. Those practices with a practice nurse can have the nurse assist with the collection of information and the provision of recommended interventions at the direction of the GP.

Below is an excerpt from a letter that Dr Steve Kane-Toddhall from Beachmere, Queensland sent to the Medical Observer about his experiences of providing health assessments:

“I have found the health assessment (HA) items to be effective, especially where obesity or a high risk of diabetes is found, with my nurse using Lifescripts and also plain commonsense counselling to encourage a proportion of my patients to get fitter – patients who otherwise would not have cared so much. I’ve had some good successes”.

He also states “I have problems getting my ATSI-origin patients to engage, no matter how friendly, welcoming and non-judgemental I am, and the HA process has been a major help in this setting as well, though I am trying my hardest to increase pick-up”. (Medical Observer February 2011, p.15)

It is interesting to note that an unexpected benefit of delivering health assessments is that they have provided Dr Kane-Toddhall the avenue to find a common ground with his Aboriginal patients. Through the process of the health assessment Dr Kane-Toddhall has been able to enhance the patient-doctor relationship and increase patient confidence and trust. The patient-doctor relationship is the cornerstone of general practice and is particularly important for Aboriginal patients who face additional barriers to accessing health services. The impact of colonisation and past government policies have contributed to a general reluctance amongst the Aboriginal population to going to the doctor. A positive patient-doctor relationship is one of the key factors in encouraging Aboriginal patients to maintain regular contact with a health service, which will contribute to improved management of chronic disease and better health outcomes.