The organisers of a vital health program for Aboriginal people in regional and remote New South Wales fear it could collapse without a clear commitment to long-term funding.
Key points:
- The Marrabinya program connects Aboriginal people living with chronic illness to complex care services
- The program’s funding ends on June 30 and has not yet been formally extended
- Program organisers fear staff will leave without certainty over their jobs.
The Marrabinya program has connected more than 4000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with chronic illness to previously unaffordable or inaccessible specialist appointments, by paying for the appointment and associated travel expenses.
Now wrapping up a three-year funding cycle, there has been no formal extension by the Western NSW Primary Health Network (WNSW PHN) for the program, run by Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation, beyond June 30 this year.
“We’ve been informed verbally [of a six month extension] while they organise the tender process… but nothing in writing,” executive manager Donna Jeffries told The Drum.
“Knowing we have a three-year funding cycle, I don’t know why they don’t start this process two years in.”
Ms Jeffries said she fears such short-term planning could effectively dismantle the program from the inside.
“This is the frustrating thing because when we start offering staff six-month extensions to employment contracts, they start to get worried and look for other options.
“If another opportunity came along, they would take it.
“I’d be annoyed at the system because they’ve allowed it to happen.”
The Western NSW Primary Health Network said it remained committed to working with Maari Ma on the future design and delivery of the Marrabinya program.
Outcomes for both clients and staff
The program provides a brokerage service for patients between general practitioners and complex, multidisciplinary care, delivering more than 85,000 supplementary services since it started in 2016.
It covers 53 per cent of NSW, and has received referrals from 80 per cent of general practices in that area for people with chronic respiratory, cardiovascular or kidney disease, cancer, diabetes and liver disease.
The model is the first of its kind in the country, and received international recognition at a 2018 conference on integrated care in the Netherlands, presented alongside the Western Queensland Primary Health Network.
Dubbo-based care link worker Desley Mason is one of the organisation’s nine staff members working out of pre-existing Aboriginal Medical Service offices, and said supporting people had been incredibly rewarding.
“It’s a pleasure seeing the replies that we get from all of our clients, and the thank yous that we get,” she said.
Ms Mason arranged client Neville Gibbs a sleep apnea machine through the program, which also supplies medical aids.
“I had very bad breathing for smoking for too long… I’m on home oxygen, and it cuts down that oxygen while you’re sleeping,” he said.
“It has helped me a lot, [while] sleeping and when I’m up and about I’m not feeling like I’m gasping for breath all the time, it’s made that much of a difference to me.”
‘Could have been another statistic’
For people living in regional and remote NSW, ease of access to healthcare is literally the difference between life and death.
Robbie Olsen was a vibrant community worker in Dubbo and member of the local rugby league community before a shock diagnosis in his late thirties.
“I was diagnosed with schwannoma cancer… I realised in such a short space of time my whole outlook on life would change, and I had to come up with a plan pretty quickly,” he said.
Having a young family and being suddenly unable to work, Mr Olsen needed support to access complex care, fast.
“If it wasn’t for Marrabinya opening their doors to me, maybe I could have been not followed up on, or I could’ve been another statistic,” he said.
Through the Marrabinya program, Ms Mason will continue to provide financial support to Mr Olsen while the program itself remains funded.
This story was originally published for the ABC here – https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-29/indigenous-health-program-funding-fears/100173458. Feature image by Geoff Kemp.
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