Geri Wilson-Matenga reflects on the importance of strong partnerships with Aboriginal communities and across the health system to drive improvements in Aboriginal health outcomes.
There is real momentum across the health system right now to progress transformational change that will improve Aboriginal health outcomes. We are seeing this through enhanced governance and accountability, strengthening the Aboriginal workforce, improving cultural safety and eliminating racism. But there is still so much more we want to achieve.
The Centre for Aboriginal Health helps drive this change in line with the NSW Government’s commitment to the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Often, this is about helping the system better understand the social and cultural determinants of health; how past government practices still impact Aboriginal people and how they access and use health services.
Key enablers to reform the system
A key enabler for health system reform is the NSW Aboriginal Health Plan 2024–2034. The plan guides how health services are developed and delivered by focusing on Aboriginal expertise and experience. It reflects the priorities, aspirations and cultural strengths of Aboriginal communities, including the:
- cultural determinants of health and wellbeing
- importance of prevention and early intervention
- need for systemic transformation.
The plan envisions a health system that is designed with Aboriginal people, for Aboriginal people. It’s about recognising that better outcomes will only come when Aboriginal people are involved in making the decisions that affect their health and wellbeing.
The plan is structured around:
- priority reform areas, which describe the system-level enablers needed to shift how the health system functions
- strategic directions, which guide where we focus our effort, such as workforce, access, service integration and data.
Strength in partnership
The Aboriginal Heath Plan is now being implemented, based on key actions identified across the health system. One priority is for all NSW Health organisations to embrace the concept of co-creation with Aboriginal people and communities and put processes in place to enable this.
A good example of this is the ACI’s Finding Your Way shared decision-making model, which was developed with mob; for mob to support shared decision-making with their health professionals (see the feature on localising Finding Your Way resources to promote bowel cancer screening). These types of initiatives ensure healthcare decisions are made in a culturally safe, inclusive and empowering ways.
We are currently developing a measurement framework to assess outcomes of the Aboriginal Health Plan, with reporting due to commence in December this year.
As always, working in partnership with the community, health staff and collaborating across the health system brings about the most effective change to improve health outcomes. We look forward to this continued collaboration and appreciate your ongoing commitment and dedication to strengthening Aboriginal health.
About Geri Wilson-Matenga
Geri Wilson-Matenga is the Executive Director, Centre for Aboriginal Health at the NSW Ministry
of Health.
Geri joined NSW Health in the Primary Health Care Branch in 1989 and has worked in various roles including aged care and rehabilitation, health services implementation, service development, and population and public health.
Holding an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the University of Sydney, Geri commenced working in Aboriginal health in 1995 and has held the roles of Director and Executive Director of Aboriginal Health since 2018.
Geri is most proud of the work the Centre has led in elevating Aboriginal health to create visibility across the health system by privileging Aboriginal voices in all governance mechanisms, including executive structures and establishment of tighter accountability mechanisms in the system performance framework. By positioning Aboriginal people at the forefront of decision making, these initiatives address health disparities and culturally responsive healthcare practices.