THE Western Region Health Centre has drawn up a plan to improve health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Melbourne’s west.
The WRHC’s Reconciliation Action Plan 2012-15 has been designed to close a ‘health gap’ and keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s well-being from lagging further behind the wider community.
WRHC general manager (participation) Jason Rostant said the key intention was to make the service more accessible.
“We’ve been drawing up guiding principles and it’s been a challenging process,” he said. “We’ve seen a substantial increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders accessing services.”
Mr Rostant said the first step to encouraging greater use of the service was to have a safe and welcoming environment for patients. The plan was created with WRHC’s Indigenous Working Group, which will now monitor its progress.
View the plan at wrhc.com.au/indigenous
—Benjamin Millar
