Ask the question and offer the 715 health assessment

CESPHN are asking all GPs and Practice Nurses to ensure they are identifying patients of Aboriginal descent, and encouraging them to complete the MBS Item 715 health assessment. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released updates to the “Use of First Nation Health Checks and follow ups”, which includes 2021-22 data. The central and eastern Sydney region has continued to see low uptake of the MBS 715 health checks. Only 9.9% of First Nations people in the CEPHN region had a health check completed in 2021-22; this is a decrease from 14.4% in 2020-21.

The AIHW reported in the recent QI PIP release that significant numbers of First Nations people are being treated by mainstream practices; the data highlights a need for improvements in the rates of identification of First Nations clients at these practices. At July 2023, 24% of regular clients in the CESPHN region did not have their Aboriginal status recorded in their GP record, this is higher than the national proportion (22.9%).

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