Welcome to better health together and I have with me a very remarkable woman Professor Rhonda Marriott who is also the pro vice-chancellor of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership a t Murdoch University and the center Director of Nyikina Yira Research Centre Rhonda, I'd be really interested to hear from you at the most I guess most grunty your complex perspective what you see as the key issues or the key barriers for Aboriginal people particularly in WA Accessing good health care and good primary health care.
Thank You Learne. I think the issues and access for Aboriginal people is difficult sometimes because of the diversity of our people, but also the vastness of our state So, if you're living in Perth, because it's the major city in the capital then access to a GP And then having choices around either going to that GP or going to the Derbarl Yerrigan Aboriginal medical service means that you've got a deal more choices You've also got much more choice around access to specialist care if you need there and look at the number of hospitals that we have If you if you can't get into anyone there you can always go to the emergency department But gee, that's so different if you're living in somewhere like Albany or some where like Kununurra So you have less hospitals you might have visiting specialist that are on a rotational basis. You have no choice around who's coming.
It's when are they coming? As opposed to who might be coming And you have minimal access to GPS as well So the access really is based around where you live in the state But added to that is the underlying thing of whether a service is welcoming whether it's welcoming to Aboriginal people And if we get it right for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we actually get it right for everyone.
