Primary Care - Caring for Diverse Populations
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Caring for Diverse Populations

Older Australians are from many different backgrounds, so each person will express their identity in different ways. Being part of a group with others from the same background can help people connect. Diversity within groups and across groups also exists. This is called ‘intersectionality’.

Many people may not feel they belong to any group. It’s for this reason that health professionals and care workers need to focus not only on one type of diversity, but on multiple types at once.

More information about diversity and intersectionality is available in the ELDAC Diverse Population Groups section of the ELDAC website.

Supporting Inclusive End of Life Care Companion Guides

These companion resources are for providing inclusive, quality care for:

  • Older Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • Older People from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds
  • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Gender Diverse, and Intersex Elders.

Although developed for aged care providers, this resource can also be used by primary care provider organisations.

Diverse Populations End of Life Needs Assessment

This set of resources can be used to support organisations in the provision of tailored end of life care for these diverse groups:

  • Care leavers
  • People affected by forced adoption
  • Veterans
  • People who have experienced homelessness.

Although developed for aged care providers, this resource can also be used by primary care provider organisations.

PHN HealthPathways can contain locally relevant information specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

To find this information, login to your local PHNs HealthPathways and look for the following icon in each pathway:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags Icon - Indicates HealthPathways that contain information specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Indicates HealthPathways that contain information specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.

Globe Icon - Indicates HealthPathways that specific to people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities Indicates HealthPathways that specific to people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing funds National Palliative Care Projects. They work towards improving quality and access to critical support and treatment for people with life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones.

You can visit the National Palliative Care Projects Hub to find more, or download a PDF of current Projects (1.7MB pdf). The following Projects support inclusive care.

IPEPA

IPEPA aims to break down the barriers to accessing palliative care experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Informed by the community and for the community, IPEPA delivers workshops, runs a placement and a mentoring program, hosts a community of practice and provides education and resources.

Indigenous knowledge is embedded across all collaborative resources and facilitates two-way learning dedicated to holistic and culturally responsive care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their loved ones.

LGBTIQ+ Palliative Care Project

Delivered by LGBTIQ+ Health Australia, this project offers FREE eLearning to increase healthcare providers’ confidence in providing LGBTIQ+ inclusive palliative care including:

  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) communities and their specific healthcare needs
  • End-of-life concerns and barriers to palliative care for LGBTIQ+ people
  • How to have inclusive end-of-life conversations
  • Strategies to support loved ones
  • How to create a welcoming and inclusive environment

The eLearning topics, across four 1-hour modules, explore:

  • Module 1: Introduction to LGBTIQ+ communities
  • Module 2: Barriers to providing and receiving palliative care
  • Module 3: Enablers for LGBTIQ+ people in palliative care
  • Module 4: Having end-of-life planning conversations.

Gwandalan Palliative Care

Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL), in partnership with Palliative Care South Australia co-developed a suite of tailored education and training materials to support cultural safety within palliative care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Education and training materials for the Gwandalan Project aim to support relationships between service providers, frontline staff and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities through cross-cultural education and the sharing of knowledge.

The Gwandalan Project does not address clinical palliative care content but rather, supports the provision of culturally safe and responsive palliative care by upskilling frontline staff to contextualise care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and deliver services in a way which supports a good ‘finishing up’.

Palliative Care in Prisons (PiP) Project

The Palliative Care in Prisons Project aims to improve access to best evidence-based, culturally-safe, high-quality palliative and end-of-life care for people in prisons, through the collaborative co-design of a new National Framework for the Provision of Palliative Care in Australian Prisons.

The Palliative Care in Prisons Project is led by Professor Jane Phillips, and comprises five distinct phases.

This five-year co-design project (July 2020-June 2025) aims to understand current palliative care provision in Australian prisons and to identify the barriers to and facilitators of evidence-based palliative and end-of-life care.

The Project Consortia will co-design a National Framework for the Provision of Palliative Care in Australian Prisons (National Framework) with Project Partners and key stakeholders using a collaborative and solution-oriented approach.