Medical Specialist Access Framework

The RACP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Committee (ATSIHC) developed the Medical Specialist Access Framework as a guide for health sector stakeholders to promote and support equitable access to specialist care for Australia's Indigenous peoples.

Overview

Overview of the Framework A three-part Framework: principles in practice, roles and responsibilities, and enablers of specialist access.

Be the difference

Case studies A guide for physicians – how to implement the Framework in your professional practice or work environment.

Case studies

cases study Rural and remote, and urban case studies demonstrating successful models for equitable access to care.

Tools and resources

Tools, resources and downloads Document planning, template service agreements and information to help implement the principles.

RACP's role

The RACP was named in the 2013-2023 Implementation Plan for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples access to specialists.

In 2014, we hosted a Specialist Access Roundtable where participants called for national action to address inequitable access to specialists, and replace the ad hoc approach with a comprehensive and systematic national approach.

The Roundtable concluded that the principles and elements of equitable specialist medical access should be detailed in a nationally applied framework.

We have developed the Framework based on principles supported by participants and developed in the 2014 RACP Specialist Access Roundtable Consensus Statement (PDF).