National health workforce in discrete Indigenous communities

To identify areas of relative need and inform future planning of health workforce and health services in discrete Indigenous communities.

Descriptive analysis of relevant variables from the 1999 Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey (CHINS), including all discrete Indigenous communities in Australia.

Almost 90% of the Indigenous population of the Northern Territory live in discrete communities. The corresponding figure for Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia is around 25%, for New South Wales 8% and Victoria 1%. Just over 4000 people (5% of the population surveyed) live 100 kilometres or more from the nearest community health centre and almost 60,000 (54%) live 100 kilometres or more from the nearest hospital. Approximately 4000 Indigenous people (6% of population surveyed) have little or no access to a registered nurse or a doctor in their community. Access to Indigenous health workers is also limited, with more than 26,000 people (40%) having almost no access to a male Indigenous health worker and about 10,400 (16%) having almost no access to a female Indigenous health worker. More than 13,000 people (20%) have no access to a dentist and many thousands (30-50%) have no access to allied health or mental health care workers. An obstetrician or ENT/respiratory physician never visited the communities of almost 40,000 people (55% and 59%, respectively) and about 24,000 people (36%) have no access to an ophthalmologist.

CHINS data provide a unique source of information to monitor the status of health services and the workforce in discrete Indigenous communities.