Closing the gap and our aims
Closing the Gap
Western Health is committed to achieving equality in health status between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-indigenous Australians.
Western Health reaffirmed its commitment to improving the health of Indigenous Australians residing in the Western suburbs after becoming an official signatory to the national Closing the Gap campaign in 2013.
Closing the Gap is a strategy that aims to reduce Indigenous disadvantage with respect to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes.
Endorsed by the Australian Government in March 2008, Closing the Gap is a formal commitment developed in response, to the call of the Social Justice Report 2005 to achieve Indigenous health equality within 25 years.
To monitor change, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has set measurable targets to monitor improvements in the health and wellbeing of the Indigenous population.
These targets focus on health, housing, early childhood, education, economic participation and remote service delivery.
The achievement of substantial improvements in the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people will depend largely on the effective implementation of these targets as they reflect some of the substantial disadvantages experienced by Indigenous people.
Our Aims:
Western Health is committed to increasing our Aboriginal workforce by:
- ensuring Aboriginal people are better represented within our workforce
- creating a culturally safe work environment
- develop strategies and policies to remove barriers to support the growth of our Aboriginal workforce
- work experience opportunities for Aboriginal students to build their skills and increase knowledge
- provide learning and professional development opportunities and career pathways
- develop and nurture relationships with the Aboriginal communities and stakeholders including education providers and professional associations.
- Provide support to our Aboriginal employees, such as mentoring
- Develop capability of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal employees to provide assistance to selection panels where there are Aboriginal applicants
- Becoming an employer of choice