SWOT Analysis NACCHO (National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation) Assessment Answers

• Subject Name : Health

Here is the SWOT Analysis of NACCHO

Introduction

NACCHO stands for National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations. It is a national authority in Australia which focuses on the primary comprehensive health care for the Aboriginals. It represents 143 ACCHSs (Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service) present across Australia (NACCHO n.d.b). An ACCHS is a service for providing primary health care to the Aboriginal community, designed in a way to ensure culturally appropriate, comprehensive and holistic delivery of health care. These ACCHSs operate in Australiaaposs urban, remote and regional areas. The history of NACCHO stretches as back as the 1970s. The community control of the Aboriginals at a national level is represented by NACCHO so that improved access to effective health care for the Aboriginal people is ensured throughout Australia (NACCHO n.d.b).

NACCHO focuses on the promotion, development and expansion of provision of services related to health and well-being via the ACCHS. Furthermore, it focuses on representing and advocating the delivery of health services along with health programs, research, health information and public health.
The goal of this assessment is to perform a SWOT analysis of NACCHO and discuss its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Furthermore, after the SWOT analysis, recommendations would also be provided.

Strengths

Unique care model

The model used for care is unique, creating special relationships with the clients. It is not like any normal health service as it targets the needs for health and well-being of the Aboriginal society with a holistic approach. It is special and culturally-informed model for providing primary health care to the Aboriginal people. It offers a wide variety of services such as child health services, psychologist, dietitian, dentists, transport services, aged care facilitates and so on. (NACCHO 2016).

Good governance

The board at NACCHO holds regular meetings to discuss the decisions about the policies of the organisation. It effectively works to strengthen and maintain the connections between the multiple members, the Board and the affiliates. In addition, the board members perform to develop, regulate and review different strategies and business plan along with an analysis of regular monthly reports as per the KPIs (Key performance indicators). The board of NACCHO approves the arrangements made in regards to new governance through meetings, discussions, consultation, and collaborative effect (NACCHO 2017).

Acknowledged and funded by The Commonwealth

The care model used by NACCHO is acknowledged by The Commonwealth and is a direct funder for the organisation. NACCHO (2016) presented that for the year of 2009, the expenditure on health for 39 more for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and this is made possible through the funding provided by the Commonwealth. It has allowed the organisation to provide health care services to a great number of Aboriginal people.

Presence of indigenous staff

The majority of the staff is indigenous and the organisation as a whole is the leading employer of these people (NACCHO n.d.a). This puts NACCHO as an organisation which is working towards the improvement of the lives of Aboriginal people.

Diverse and effective programs

NACCHO uses online systems that allow it to monitor the progress on tasks such as the Activity and Quality Improvement Planapos of NACCHO. All the programs are built around the focus of improving the care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their access to these services. Example of one such program is QUMAX (Quality use of medicines maximised) which aims at improving the health outcomes of the patients. In addition, there is the PTP (Pharmacy trials program). The trials under this program seek the development of innovative practices in pharmacy (NACCHO 2017). Weaknesses.

Dependency on government funding

NACCHO (2016) mentioned that the majority of the funding for Aboriginal healthcare is from the government. This dependency is a weakness as there is no balance to government funding. The expenditure on indigenous health is expected to decline with respect to the increasing population along with their health needs (NACCHO, 2014). The ineffective distribution of funds negatively affects the clients and the services being provided to them through the organisation.

Failure in the system

The issue of the poor health of the people is a weakness as it results in loss of productivity, unemployment and low participation of the labour force. The hospital services become more expensive due to the false economies that limit the appropriate funding of primary health care. Furthermore, due to changing needs as well as increasing demands of the consumer, the productivity of the ACCHS is affected adversely (NACCHO 2014). The lack of proper policy structure and commitment in the funding or the health of the Aboriginals is the main cause of poor and inadequate distribution of the expenditure in the case of NACCHO (NACCHO, 2016).

Issues regarding the workforce

The workforce of the organisation is highly skilled but different factors are present which limit their ability to work efficiently. These factors include the constraints in the supply, along with high demand. Furthermore, there is no security for the fund. All these results in stress for the workforce (NACCHO 2016).

Health policy

The primary health care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is the responsibility of The Commonwealth. There is a lack of national strategy which targets the health of the community. There is a substantial gap in the health of the Aboriginals mainly due to the prevalence of inequality in the sector of healthcare services (NACCHO 2016).

Flaws in the mechanism of administration and allocation of resources

NACCHO is an organisation aiming for the healthcare of the indigenous population in Australia, but the main concern about this is that a lot of government money is directed towards hospitals. Furthermore, the lack of provisioning in primary health care can be seen as levels of avoidable deaths and avoidable admissions increase. In addition, the funding provided to NAACHO is not done on the basis of demand of needs and services, growth in population suggesting the lack of effective framework (NACCHO 2016).

Opportunities

Activities of media and communication

The key opportunities for NACCHO include engagement of social media and engagement in general media.
Welch, Petkovic, Pardo, Rader and Tugwell (2016) discussed in a study that the interventions of social media are effective to promote equality of health. It can help NACCHO in removing the barriers to physical access and geography. Effective engagement of media would allow NACCHO to get significant attraction through activities involving online platforms, radio, newspapers and so on.

Recruitment of more clinical staff who are indigenous

Currently, NACCHO is the leading employer for the Aboriginals, but they mainly represent the staff which in non-clinical (NACCHO n.d.a). Employing more indigenous staff in the clinical department would put the organisation in a good spot when representing the Aboriginal community.

Stakeholder Management

Stakeholders can have a significant impact on the health services, efficiency in the engagement of the stakeholder becomes crucial for the health care provider and organisations (health.vic 2016). Understanding about the effective engagement of stakeholders would help in building strategies which would result in achieving better outcomes for the services of the organisation. It also helps in maintaining the reputation of the organisation effective management results in improved operations, finances and compliance (health.vic 2016).

Use of technology to improve access to health services

With the advancing technology and its applications across various sectors like health, business, food and so on, it has developed into a great opportunity for the organisations. Infoxchange (2017) mentions the use of technology which is driven by the community for boosting access to health services by Aboriginals. One such example is of Ask Izzyapos and works to connect homeless people with important services for support. Such innovative use of technology is extremely beneficial for organisations and users. Where the main goal is to ease and enhance the accessibility of health services for Aboriginals, the use of advancing technology would be great for NACCHO.

Partnerships with other health care organisations

Having partnerships with various health care organisations helps in increasing the accessibility of the health care services for the Aboriginal people as it facilitates the exchange of useful information across organisations such as new methods or approaches for delivery of healthcare and so on (NACCHO 2017). For this NACCHO can engage itself in partnering with such organisations which share the same organisational goals. Threats

Presence of other aboriginal health organisations

NACCHO is a health organisation which is targeted to provide primary health care to the Aboriginal community and its people. However, it is not the only organisations serving the field. There are other organisations as well such as VACCA (The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency) which is the leading organisation in Australia concerned with the welfare of the family and the children. Another such organisation is CAPA (New South Wales Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations) which operates to provide support to the Aboriginals in New South Wales in terms of cultural, social and economic wellbeing (Australian Government n.d.b). Presence of multiple such health organisations is a threat for NACCHO as they act as competitors.

Threat of services

With the availability of multiple healthcare organisations, there can also be differences in the services that these organisations have to offer (NACCHO 2017). It is a threat to NACCHO if another organisation provides better healthcare services to its patients. Furthermore, the other organisations could have a private funding source giving them a competitive advantage over NACCHO.

Risk of inappropriate funding by the government

Various regulatory practices and the funding of the government of Australia are fragmented and complex. Furthermore, there can be inefficiencies in the department of reporting of requirements of the funders from the state government (NACCHO 2016). In addition, these policies can be changed with time which can affect the funding protocols for NACCHO, thereby limiting its services for the Aboriginal population.

Security threats

Healthcare organisations such as NACCHO are a target of hackers. One of the biggest threats of security in the healthcare industry includes the threat of theft of patientaposs data. Patients data consists of different information put together such as history and medical information which is valuable to the hackers (Nadeau 2018). Along with threats, there can be insider threats as well as ransomware and phishing.

Barriers to culture

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people view health care to be holistic in nature and refer to the cultural, emotional and social wellbeing of the community and the people who live within those communities. The communities can have a different culture which can act as a threat to the organisations when providing healthcare to such patients (Li 2017). Along with the cultural barrier, there can also be barriers to communication which can also pose a threat to health organisations.

Recommendation

After performing a SWOT analysis of National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the recommendations for the organisation are that NACCHO should work towards improving the engagement of its stakeholders which includes health organisations for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, clinicians and so on (ACSQHC 2017). Through this NACCHO would be able to create effective development strategies for the organisation. Another thing that NACCHO should do is avoiding completely depending on government funding as they are not reliable and include various policies and regulations which can change with time which can limit their functioning. Furthermore, NACCHO should partner with organisations which share the same goals of providing improved health care services to the Aboriginals. This would help in eliminating the threat of competition as both sides would be able to benefit themselves by developing new strategies and goals together. The threat to security is real and health organisations like NACCHO are a prime target of hackers for their valuable patient data. To reduce the security threats, NACCHO should seek the help of cyber-specialists and the Digital Health Cyber Security Centre as they would be able to provide solutions to the organisation in building and maintaining security frameworks so that such threats can be avoided (Australian Government n.d.a).

References

ACSQHC. 2017. Improving care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Available at https//www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/assessment-to-the-nsqhs-standards/improving-care-for-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people/Australian Government. n.d.a. Digital Health Cyber Security Centre. Available at https//www.digitalhealth.gov.au/about-the-agency/digital-health-cyber-security-centreAustralian Government. n.d.b. Key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. Available at https//www2.aifs.gov.au/cfca/knowledgecircle/key-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-organisationshealth.vic. 2016. Stakeholder engagement. Available at https//www2.health.vic.gov.au/Api/downloadmedia/7B65E3A0C6-44B4-4CE5-9226-9B274C7D4ABD7D
Infoxchange. 2017. Community-driven tech to boost access to Aboriginal health services. Available at https//www.infoxchange.org/au/news/2017/02/community-driven-tech-boost-access-aboriginal-health-servicesLi, J. L. 2017. Cultural barriers lead to inequitable healthcare access for Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Chinese Nursing Research, 4(4), 207-210. https//doi.org/10.1016/j.cnre.2017.10.009NACCHO. n.d.a. Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services are more than just another
health service they put Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands. Available at https//www.naccho.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Key-facts-1-why-ACCHS-are-needed-FINAL.pdf
NACCHO. n.d.b. About NACCHO. Available at https//www.naccho.org.au/about/ Accessed on March 29, 2019
NACCHO. 2014. Economic value of Aboriginal community controlled health services. Available at https//nacchocommunique.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/naccho_14_econimic-value-exec-summary_020414.pdfNACCHO. 2016. NACCHO submission. Available at https//www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/204964/sub227-human-services-identifying-reform.pdfNACCHO. 2017. Annual report 2016-2017. Available at https//www.naccho.org.au/wp-content/uploads/NACCHO-Annual-Report-2016-2017.pdfNadeau, M. 2018. 5 biggest healthcare security threats for 2018. Available at https//www.cso.com.au/article/634625/5-biggest-healthcare-security-threats-2018/Welch, V. Petkovic, J. Pardo P. J. Rader, T. and Tugwell, P. 2016. Interactive social media interventions to promote health equity an overview of reviews. Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada research, policy and practice, 36(4), 6375.