Improving access to culturally safe primary health care services

Developing and embedding cultural responsiveness in health services is an ongoing process of continual learning. To contribute to this vital effort, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network (NWMPHN) is testing a quality improvement (QI) approach to building the cultural responsiveness of services in our region.

In June 2020 NWMPHN commissioned the Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV) to consult with community members, primary health care providers, general practices, community health organisations and multicultural organisations in our region to understand what culturally responsive care means to them. Using the insights gained from the consultation findings, ECCV developed a set of cultural responsiveness resources including a Culturally Responsive Assessment Tool (CRAT). These resources are designed to support NWMPHN’s commissioned providers to undertake quality improvement (QI) activities to improve cultural responsiveness in their services.

In 2021 we are working with seven primary health care providers to implement and test the effectiveness of the cultural responsiveness resources and CRAT developed in partnership with ECCV. The insights gained from this testing phase will inform:

• future implementation of the cultural responsiveness resources, including in general practice settings
• innovative approaches to improving cultural responsiveness.

The key objectives of this activity are to:

• support our commissioned primary health care providers to implement the Culturally Responsive Assessment Tool  (CRAT) and complete activities to improve their cultural responsiveness
• build the capacity of our commissioned primary health care providers to respond to the needs of CALD communities
• improve access to culturally responsive primary health care services for culturally and linguistically diverse communities in our region.