An argument on culture safety in health service delivery: towards better health outcomes for Aboriginal peoples

Abstract

The bureaucratic measure of health service, health performance indicators, suggest that we are not effective in our legislative responsibility to deliver suitable health care to some of the populations we are meant to serve. Debate has raged over the years as to the reasons for this, with no credible explanation accepted by those considered stakeholders. One thing is clear though, we have gone from being a culture believing that the needs of the many far outweigh those of the few, to one where we are barely serving the needs of the 'any'. This is most evident in the care delivered to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia.