Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service continues to be committed to advancing health equity by ensuring culturally safe, respectful, and accessible healthcare services. This commitment includes listening deeply to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, valuing community-led solutions, and working in genuine partnership to close the gap in health outcomes.
Health equity is not simply a goal; it is a shared responsibility. We are pleased with the progress we have made as a Health Service since the launch of our first Health Equity Strategy in 2022. We have deepened our partnerships with local community-controlled health organisations, worked to eliminate racism, and strengthened career pipelines to grow a workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We measure our success not only in data, but in the lived experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We co-designed our strategy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers, community members, staff, and partner organisations.
We will continue to work together to define what we're going to do and how we'll know we're successful.
Our 6 key priority areas are:
- improving health and wellbeing outcomes
- actively eliminating racial discrimination and institutional racism within the service
- increasing access to healthcare services
- influencing the social, cultural and economic determinants of health
- delivering sustainable, culturally safe and responsive healthcare services
- working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities and organisations to design, deliver, monitor and review health services