Evaluation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PHC

Allen and Clarke Policy and Regulatory Specialists (Allen and Clarke) have been engaged to co-design and implement an independent evaluation of the Australian Government’s investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care with the Indigenous health sector.

This evaluation is taking a whole of system, person centred approach. It aims to support the health system to improve access to quality and effective primary health care services so that it is more responsive to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. While the focus of the evaluation is the IAHP, the scope of the evaluation will necessarily include the IAHP’s relationship with other parts of the health system and draw on the perspectives of stakeholders at different levels of the system, and will also facilitate learning across these levels.

The evaluation has two phases:

• Phase One – evaluation co-design was completed in mid-2018 with the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report:
• Evaluation of the of the Australian Government’s Investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report (Executive Summary) (PDF 574 KB)
• Evaluation of the of the Australian Government’s Investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report (Executive Summary) (Word 451 KB)
• Evaluation of the Australian Government’s Investment Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report (PDF 4204 KB)
• Evaluation of the Australian Government’s Investment Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report (Word 2755 KB)
• Evaluation of the Australian Government’s Investment Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report - Appendices (PDF 1128 KB)
• Evaluation of the Australian Government’s Investment Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme, Monitoring and Evaluation Design Report - Appendices (Word 1107 KB)
• Phase Two – evaluation implementation - commences from late 2018 and will be implemented over a four year period (2018-19 to 2021-22). Implementation will involve a number of phased and concurrent elements to achieve the evaluation aims and also inform the 2023 revision of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-2023.

A central part of the evaluation design is the establishment of up to 20 place based, system-focussed site studies to assess the impact of the IAHP on the ground as well as provide a national picture of what is being achieved through Australian Government investment. The sites will be established in consultation with stakeholders including through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Partnership Forums in each jurisdiction.

The purpose of the evaluation is to drive real change in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and wellbeing through supporting improvements in the IAHP and its interactions with the broader health system. It aims to facilitate learning and action within and between different levels of the health system – local, regional, state and national. This will be achieved by establishing regular feedback loops throughout the evaluation, including reporting back to sites and at the national level and by implementing interactive methods such as co-creation sessions and cross-cutting collaboratives that bring different stakeholders together in a shared learning space.

The co-design approach will continue through the implementation phase of the evaluation through:

• A Health Sector Evaluation Co-design Group comprised of key stakeholders working across the health system to facilitate a robust and high quality evaluation design and implementation. Communiques from recent meetings (December 2017 and April 2018) of this group are also available. The Group meets biannually and the next meeting will be early in 2019.
• Groups of community based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will bring diverse perspectives and experiences from using (and not using) primary health care services including biannual Community Co-Design Group sessions from 2019-20.
• A Technical Reference Group of independent experts.

Key information about the evaluation is available on the Allen and Clarke website at (www.IPHCeval.com).

Economic Evaluation

The Economic Evaluation consists of two phases:

• Phase One (2017-18) – focused on the return on investment of the IAHP as measured by potentially preventable hospitalisations; and the relative costs of an Indigenous specific compared to a non-Indigenous specific primary health care service. Deakin University undertook this phase which was completed in mid-2018.

Economic Evaluation of the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme Phase 1 Report (PDF 602 KB)
Economic Evaluation of the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme Phase 1 Report (Word 254 KB)

• Phase Two (from 2018-19) – will evaluate the return on investment of the IAHP more broadly. The first step is to identify and address data development needs for a robust economic evaluation. This will be undertaken as part of the Allen and Clarke evaluation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PHC.