Summary
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021–2031 (the Health Plan), was released by the Department of Health and Aged Care (the department) in 2021 and sets out a 10-year plan for the direction of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) health policy. The Health Plan contains 12 priority areas, each with a set of specific objectives (52 objectives in total).
A key feature of the Health Plan is an accountability framework, which will help understand and explain the plan’s impact – whether progress is being made towards desired outcomes. To support the development of the accountability framework, this report presents findings a review of key national data sources and information products that could potentially provide performance indicators, or that could inform the development of new performance indicators. Data development can take a substantial amount of time and resources.
A solid evidence base of quality data will support the development of an accountability framework which ‘will:
- be overseen by a governance mechanism that embeds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership
- be centred around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s perspectives, priorities and knowledge systems
- measure the impacts of policies and programs on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- hold the government and mainstream organisations accountable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- have an outcomes focus
- not increase the reporting burden on the ACCHS sector
- respect the principles of data sovereignty.’ (Department of Health and Aged Care 2021, p11)
Key findings from the review are:
- there are many inter-relationships between the different objectives of the Health Plan, so potential measures of progress may be repeated across objectives
- health outcomes are also influenced by broader determinants of health – especially social determinants such as income, housing, education and employment – many of which are not captured in the Health Plan objectives
- most data available relate to outcomes.
- metrics could be developed to assess the efficacy of activities and programs in achieving the outcomes
- there are major data gaps relating to
- shared decision-making and partnerships (Priority 1)
- cultural safety (Priority 3 and Priority 8)
- social and emotional wellbeing and trauma-aware, healing informed approaches (Priority 6)
- racism (Priority 8)
- mental health and suicide prevention (Priority 10)
- shared access to data and information at a regional level (Priority 12)
- program and activity data (for example health promotion activities).
Background about the development of the Health Plan and its predecessor is provided at Appendix A. Additional information from the review is available in the Data Tables.
References
Department of Health and Aged Care (2021) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2021–2031, Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government, Canberra, accessed 22 October 2024.