What is the difference between and Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS)?
There are important differences between these two terms though they are often used interchangeably and sometimes incorrectly so!
All ACCHSs are AMSs but the reverse is not the case.
An Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) is a health service funded principally to provide services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals. An AMS is not necessarily community controlled. Therefore not all AMSs are eligible to be members of NACCHO and its affiliates. If an AMS is not community controlled it will be a government health service run by a State or Territory government. These non-community controlled AMSs mainly exist in the Northern Territory and the northern part of Queensland.
An Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service (ACCHS) is a primary health care service initiated and operated by the local Aboriginal community to deliver holistic, comprehensive, and culturally appropriate health care to the community which controls it (through a locally elected Board of Management). To be a member of NACCHO and its affiliates an ACCHS must be:
- Initiated by a local Aboriginal community;
- Based in a local Aboriginal community;
- Governed by an Aboriginal body which is elected by the local Aboriginal community; &
- Delivering a holistic and culturally appropriate health service to the Community which controls it.
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