Evaluation of the ’s Investment in Aboriginal and Islander Primary Health Care Update June 2021

Site engagement A huge milestone was achieved with 17 sites formalising their participation as site partners in the evaluation. There are 23 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and 1 Primary Health Networks that have signed Participant Agreements. A full list of these sites and organisations is on page 3. 3 All ethics approvals in place We have also reached another exciting milestone: the confirmation of ethics approval which has allowed us to begin fieldwork in all 17 sites.

Cycle 1 Fieldwork With agreements in place with site partners, data collection for Cycle 1 is well underway. Engagement through interviews has commenced including with health service managers and PHN managers, yarns with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service staff, and with community via group and individual yarns. Most of these interviews and yarns are held face to face, however some manager interviews are being facilitated virtually given the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on travel and safe gatherings. Broadly, the focus of Cycle 1 fieldwork is to get an understanding of: • how the ’ Health Programme (IAHP) is working in each local context • what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people value and are experiencing in the primary health care system. This will lead into workshops to establish shared priorities and an agenda for change.

Collaborative We are also well underway with completing the first cross-cutting collaborative. The focus of the collaborative is on the system response to COVID-19, with an emphasis on governance and leadership, policy and planning, resourcing and financing, and partnerships, as opposed to service delivery responses. Key stakeholders from the sector have been engaged in the collaborative and provided valuable insights into the successes and challenges of the response and what aspects of the response should be sustained or extended.

IAHP Yarnes website The IAHP Yarnes website has recently been updated. We are always keen to hear your thoughts, ideas and comments and encourage anyone interested in learning more about the IAHP Yarnes evaluation to visit the website. https://www.iahpyarnes.com/

Thank you The COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain a pressing issue for all primary health care providers. The IAHP Yarnes evaluation team would like to acknowledge the incredible work that Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, PHNs and other organisations have done and continue to do in keeping our communities safe. The team expresses heartfelt gratitude of the valuable time many people and organisations have shared in engaging with the IAHP Yarnes project.

2 Yarnes Evaluation Update – June 2021 IAHP Yarnes Site Map

Health Services PHN Site 1: Canberra Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Capital Health Network ACT Site 6: Torres Strait Islands Community Services Site 2: SW Sydney Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation South Western Sydney PHN Site 3: South Coast NSW Katungul Aboriginal Corporation Regional Health South Eastern NSW PHN and Community (Coordinare Limited) Site 4: Katherine East Site 4: Katherine East Sunrise Health Service Northern Territory PHN

NT Site 5: Central Site 7: -Atherton Central Australia Aboriginal Congress Corporation Northern Territory PHN Central Australia Health Service Site 6: Torres Strait Islands Torres Health Indigenous Corporation Northern PHN Site 7: Mareeba-Atherton Site 15: Pilbara Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Northern Queensland PHN Care Service

QLD Site 8: Charleville-Roma Charleville & Western Area Aboriginal and Torres Western Queensland PHN Strait Islanders Community Health Site 5: Central Australia Site 9: Institute for Urban Indigenous Health Brisbane North PHN Site 10: North Adelaide Site 9: Brisbane Nunkuwarrin Yunti of South Australia Inc Adelaide PHN Site 11: Ceduna-Far West Coast Site 8: Charleville-Roma

SA Yadu Health Country SA PHN Oak Valley (Maralinga) Aboriginal Corporation Tullawon Health Service Inc Site 12: Launceston

TAS Tasmanian Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Tasmania Site 11: Ceduna-Far West Coast Site 13: North Melbourne Victorian Aboriginal Health Service North Western Melbourne PHN Site 16: Perth Northeast Site 14: Echuca & Shepparton-Mooroopna Site 10: North Adelaide Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative Murray PHN VIC Site 2: SW Sydney Site 17: Southwest Njernda Aboriginal Corporation Cummeragunja Housing & Development Aboriginal Site 1: Canberra Corporation Site 14: Echuca & Shepparton-Mooroopna Site 15: Pilbara Site 3: South Coast Wirraka Maya Health Service Western Australia Primary Site 13: North Melbourne Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service Health Alliance Limited Mawarnkarra Health Service Site 16: Perth NE WA Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Western Australia Primary Health Alliance Site 12: Launceston Site 17: Southwest Southwest Aboriginal Medical Service Western Australia Primary Health Alliance

Meet the IAHP Yarnes Evaluation Team - Evaluation Leads

In continuing to profile members of the evaluation team, in this update we profile the Principal Investigator and Project Lead. Together with Rob Monaghan, profiled in the last update, Professor Roxanne Bainbridge and Ned Hardie-Boys provide leadership to the Yarnes project. Professor Roxanne Bainbridge, IAHP Yarnes Principal Investigator Roxanne is a Gunggari/Kunja researcher and evaluator from South Western Queensland. She was founding Director of the Centre for Indigenous Health Equity Research at CQUniversity where she is a Professorial Research Fellow in Indigenous Health. She is also a senior global Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity at the University of Melbourne and University of Oxford. She has extensive experience and expertise in Indigenous research impact assessment and evaluation; the implementation of quality improvement approaches in and beyond primary health care settings; family-centred care; and participatory action-oriented approaches. Roxanne focusses her interests on medical anthropology as a culturally constructive critique of the narrow-focused biomedical sciences and policy to provide new understandings of human health, wellness and illness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She works to improve research integrity and quality to maximise impact and the benefits that flow to society.

Roxanne provides strategic and intellectual leadership and support to the evaluation as the principal investigator. She is the evaluation methodology workstream lead which includes the ongoing development of the evaluation framework, ethics submissions and reporting, and analysis and interpretation of information gathering in site visits. She will also assist the site team leads (introduced in the November/December newsletter) in site engagement in the Canberra and Charleville sites and in the cross-cutting collaboratives.

Roxanne has six beautiful children and a puppy who are the light of her life. She is a life-long learner, loves architecture and the great masters, sport - particularly tennis – walking, camping, and travel.

5 Yarnes Evaluation Update – June 2021

Ned Hardie-Boys, IAHP Yarnes Project Lead Ned is a Pākehā (New Zealander of European descent) evaluator from Whakatu/Nelson in Aotearoa/New Zealand. He founded and led the Evaluation and Research Practice at Allen + Clarke Consulting’s NZ office, before transitioning to the Yarnes Project Lead role. Ned has extensive experience in evaluation, including in Aboriginal PHC in the Northern Territory, in the Pacific, and in Aotearoa/NZ. In addition to the health sector, he has worked on evaluation and research projects across the justice, social development, education, and disability sectors. Ned has a strong interest in working in cross-cultural settings and applying a systems-lens to his work. In doing this, he likes to build understanding and insights based on bringing together different perspectives and from looking across and beyond specific programs, interventions and sectors. Ned provides technical leadership to the evaluation and overall leadership of the Yarnes evaluation team. He is also the national engagement lead, which includes leading engagements with national organisations and stakeholders, and planning and delivery of cross-cutting collaboratives. Ned will also support site studies in the Northern Territory, Brisbane and Canberra. Ned has a partner and three children, who are young enough to not quite understand what he does all day! He loves pretty much anything in the outdoors – currently that involves mountain-biking, playing tennis, and surfing with one of his daughters.

6 Yarnes Evaluation Update – June 2021