As NAIDOC Week events are held around Australia celebrating the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) encourages all general practices to improve the rates of identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients by asking the question: ‘Are you of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin?’.
Associate Professor Brad Murphy, Chair of the RACGP National Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, said NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity to recognise advances in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes and a very timely reminder to ‘ask the question’.
“Asking patients whether they are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin should be a standard question in every general practice. Only by properly identifying Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients, general practice teams are able to provide them with the best possible care.
“Practices need to correctly and consistently record the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status of all patients. It is not just the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status of patients that needs to be collected, it is equally important to ask and record the status of non-Indigenous Australian patients.
“In addition, asking the same question of all patients creates consistency within the practice, between practices at a local and national level, and across primary and secondary care,” A/Prof Murphy said.
As outlined in the RACGP guide Identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian general practice, research has shown that where general practices take systematic action to improve their identification processes, there is a corresponding increase in the numbers of correctly identified patients.
Identifying patients will bring benefits to a number of patients, including patients who are eligible for participation in the Practice Incentives Program (PIP) Indigenous Health Incentive payment and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment and patients who are eligible to access the Health Assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
“It is about ensuring that every patient has been given an opportunity to identify if they are of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. The majority of general practices are already asking the question’ routinely and are to be applauded,“ A/Prof Murphy concluded.
The College is aware that there are sensitivities and concerns in some areas about the issue of identification and that 'asking the question' and recording the answer may require IT and procedural support.
More advice for GPs and practice teams on the identification of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status of patients is available in the RACGP Identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian general practice resource.
For more information on NAIDOC, visit www.naidoc.org.au.
For further information on the Indigenous Health Incentive, visit www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/provider/incentives/pip.