Actioning What We Heard – Program
What we do
The Actioning What We Heard program is to act and build on the Scoping Activity undertaken by the Medicines Team at NACCHO in 2023. The Scoping Activity conducted a literature review, workshops and a National Online Survey involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The aim of the Scoping Activity was to collect insights on these communities’ views on key Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) issues related to the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology (QUDTP) Program.
The Actioning What We Heard program is the response to these insights and aims to strengthen the QUM across the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) sector.
How we contribute to solutions
The program consists of four priority projects identified through the 2023 QUM Scoping Activity:
- Creating consumer medicines resources for use in an ACCHO: The goal of this project is to develop a Roadmap for creating consumer medicines resources for use in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO), recognising communities’ desire to localise content, ultimately leading to increased consumer knowledge.
- Traditional (Cultural) Medicines – A Strengths‑Based Approach: This project expands on previous research and aims to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to feel safe when discussing traditional medicines usage with health professionals involved in providing care.
- Spotlight on safe medicine storage: This project aims to minimise risks and unintended harm when medicines are unable to be safely stored. The project enables sharing knowledge of existing solutions chosen by the ACCHO sector to address the safe storage of medicines by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- Medicines – everyone’s business within an ACCHO: The goal of this project is to develop a Toolkit for delivering co-facilitated workshops within an ACCHO or a gathering of regionally-based ACCHOs. The Toolkit explores the roles and responsibilities of various ACCHO staff in supporting safe and effective medicines, recognising that medicines are everyone’s business.
Our impact
To increase awareness and knowledge on QUM in ACCHOs by,
- guiding culturally safe creation of consumer medicines resources in ACCHOs,
- consolidating existing knowledge on traditional (cultural) medicines,
- creating greater awareness of solutions that address safe medicine storage for individuals, and
- guiding culturally safe practices on how to organise a workshop.
Our approach
The program is grounded in Indigenous governance, culturally safe practice, and strong sector engagement, with a focus on producing practical, evidence‑informed resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and the ACCHO workforce.
Resources
ACCHO locations
NACCHO oversees a network of 148 members, each running Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) across urban, regional, and remote Australia. These ACCHOs range from large facilities with multiple healthcare professionals providing comprehensive services to smaller centres focused on preventive care and health education, primarily delivered by Aboriginal Health Workers and nurses.
Contact
For any inquiries or further information about the Medicines and Pharmacy team at: medicines@naccho.org.au.
