Wanjada!
(Greeting in Yalanji language)
I am Haylene Grogan, a proud Yalanji and Tagalaka woman on my father’s side, with Italian heritage on my mother’s side. I acknowledge our Elders past and present. I respectfully thank my Elders for the privileges I have today. Without their efforts, I would not be here. I carry and benefit from their legacy and the obligation to our future First Nations generations every day.
As the inaugural Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer and Deputy Director-General, I am proud to release the first Chief First Nations Health Officer report. This report endeavours to document the work we have been doing across Queensland Health to ensure the health system works with, and for, First Nations peoples.
To achieve this, we must acknowledge our colonial history. Australian society, through its laws and policies, and the conscious and unconscious behaviours of its citizens, created systems, structures and institutions that excluded First Nations peoples from economic, social and political life for generations. This is institutional racism, and it remains embedded in our systems today. Our responsibility is to be courageous and acknowledge it and reform our health system to ensure every Queenslander has access to equitable care.
Just 4 months into my tenure, we were faced with the greatest threat our people had encountered in decades. Based on collective memory of past pandemics, there was deep fear in our community about the potential impact of COVID-19. I worked closely with the Chief Health Officer, mayors of our remote discrete First Nations communities, the broader First Nations community, and the entire health system to respond. Together, we acted to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on First Nations peoples.
We are on a journey of transformation. While we have laid important foundations and have made significant momentum with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Health Sector (A&TSICCHS), our work is far from over. The negative health impacts of racism continue to challenge us. If we are to meet our commitments under Closing the Gap, we must address racism openly and decisively.
As CFNHO, my goal for the health system in Queensland is to elevate First Nations voices and ensure First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing are listened to, valued and prioritised. This is how we build a culturally safe, integrated and equitable health system for and with First Nations peoples.
It will be critical to prioritise the health and wellbeing of children and young people – the next generation of healthcare leaders, and the next generation of healthcare consumers. Prioritising young people in health service planning and delivery is key to our Closing the Gap efforts by setting the tone for health access through a child’s life and will enable us to fulfill our responsibility to protect Queensland’s future cultural custodians.
This report outlines the achievements to date. These include foundational work from my previous role in Queensland Health, where I led the development and release of Making Tracks toward closing the gap in health outcomes for Indigenous Queenslanders by 2033: Policy and Accountability Framework in 2010, a comprehensive, evidence-based policy framework to guide statewide reform.
More recently, our health equity legislation has required every hospital and health service (HHS) to develop a health equity strategy in partnership with local First Nations communities. We continue to strengthen our partnership and shared decision-making with the A&TSCCIHS.
Queensland is now the national leader in First Nations health due to health equity reforms with:
- at least 20 First Nations board members across 16 HHSs, including 3 chairs (at the time of releasing this report)
- strengthened healthcare partnerships between Queensland Health and the A&TSICCHS in primary care to reduce preventable hospitalisations and expand care options closer to home
- implementing innovative models of care and optimal care pathways across Queensland.
We proudly highlight improvements in First Nations health outcomes, including:
- reductions in elective surgery long waits and outpatient waiting lists
- decreased infant mortality rates
- consistent year-on-year increases in antenatal visits
- gradual increase in First Nations babies born at a healthy birthweight
- improved life expectancy at birth.
Our First Nations health workforce is growing, and I am excited to see the continued rise of First Nations leadership within Queensland Health.
We will make a difference by listening to First Nations voices in the system, by having more First Nations people in the system, a coordinated, integrated and culturally safe system, and an equitably funded system.
It has been a privilege and honour to be the inaugural Chief First Nations Health Officer for Queensland Health, and I look forward to seeing this position continuing to drive change with our mob, for our mob and by our mob.
Yalada!
(farewell/goodbye in Yalanji language)
Haylene Grogan
Chief First Nations Health Officer