Media Release

84/2009
1 December 2009

New Audit Reports on Indigenous Programs

Lindsay Tanner, Minister for Finance and Deregulation announced the publication of two new evaluation report completed by the Office of Evaluation and Audit (Indigenous Programs) in the Department of Finance and Deregulation.

The Department of Health and Ageing noted the reports and is currently implementing a range of initiatives that will improve the quality of aged care services and access to Primary Health Care Funding.

INDIGENOUS AGED CARE: PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS

The audit examined the overall efficiency and effectiveness of residential aged care services provided to older Indigenous Australians by the Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) through the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program. The program aims to provide culturally appropriate aged care services to small remote and rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in areas of high need.

The audit concluded that the existence of a program with the flexibility to adapt to the varied needs of elderly Indigenous people in rural and remote communities was meeting a valuable need in the communities where it operated. However, given the increase in the numbers of older Indigenous Australian’s since the program commenced in 1994, OEA considered that it would be timely for the department to review the current level and location of need and assess the current distribution of services against this. The audit also recommended that the department make improvements to its documentation and performance indicators.

INDIGENOUS HEALTH: EVALUATION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE FUNDING TO ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER HEALTH SERVICES

The Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, within the Department of Health and Ageing, administers Primary Health Care Funding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services.  This funding aims to improve access by Indigenous people to health services.

The evaluation concluded that the Primary Health Care Funding is enabling improved access to health services, although difficult to provide a definitive assessment of the improvements.  The evaluation also found that existing reporting systems provided limited measurement of changes in health outcomes that could be linked to improvements in access to primary health care.

Further information
The reports are available on the Department of Finance and Deregulation’s website at: http://www.finance.gov.au/oea/publications-and-reports.html

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