Remote area aboriginal health services managers: key practice challenges

The following reflections on the author's management practice are based on the text of an address given by the author at the 1999 International Conference of the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators in Sydney. These reflections arise out of the author's experience for the past 5 years as manager of Nganampa Health Council, an Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation located in the remote north-west of South Australia. Nganampa Health Council is a large regional service with a national reputation for clinical and administrative excellence. It has several leading-edge health programs, which provide an exemplar for other remote health services across Australia. The author discusses three generic key management issues that remote health services managers typically encounter and argues that services are likely to be most effective when resources are applied in a focused and strategic manner and when management practices that are pragmatic and culturally appropriate are adopted.