Closing the gap: progress, but more effort needed

With some exceptions, primary health care is failing to deliver adequate preventive health care to Indigenous Australians who experience higher levels of ill health than non-Indigenous people, new research reveals. The findings add to a catalogue of similar research findings and stand in the face of major health and Medicare programs that have sought to improve health outcomes in Indigenous Australians through better access to preventive health assessments and follow-up care by primary healthcare providers. The latest findings, published by in Globalization and Health by Australian researchers, are based on an audit of 17,108 of health records of well adults seen at 137 primary health care centres in five states/territories between 2005 and 2014. The audit examined whether best practice preventive health care assessments, such as blood pressure checks and heart health screening were recorded, and whether healthcare providers provided follow-up care based on health assessments findings. Based on input from indigenous health stakeholders, the researchers made their conclusions by reviewing data in six priority areas: follow-up of abnormal blood pressure, heart health, urinalysis, blood lipids, enquiries about living conditions, and follow up of people at risk poor emotional well-being. "The good news is we saw improvements in some areas of preventive healthcare," said the paper's lead author, Jodie Bailie of the University of Sydney. "For example, we found more up to-date health summaries and immunisation records, increases in the measurement of weight and blood pressure, increased delivery of brief interventions for patients using high levels of alcohol, and better recording of Medicare numbers.