Health Access and Equity | The Benchmarque Group

Access and equity

Despite acknowledged improvements in Australia’s healthcare system, significant disparities persist in access to health services and in the provision of culturally responsive care for communities facing systemic health inequalities and structural barriers.

Healthcare professionals and organisations are vital to improving equitable access by developing local policies, services, and practices that respond to social and cultural health determinants. The key challenge is identifying practical, locally appropriate strategies to advance inclusivity in everyday care.

Project outline

In response to these challenges, Benchmarque Group has developed a contemporary learning program that features online learning, an in-person or virtual skills based workshop and a virtual critical reflection session to embed patient centred practices. The course aims to strengthen the capacity of healthcare professionals to deliver increased levels of inclusive and equitable care.

This initiative is FREE for all eligible participants working in the South Eastern NSW PHN region.

This course allows participants to:

Design and apply evidence-based strategies to ensure healthcare services are inclusive and responsive to the needs of priority populations.
Learn how to improve access to healthcare services and build trust with local communities.
Develop tools to address health inequities.

Module 1: Engaging in Collaborative Partnerships

Module 2: Focus on what Matters

Understanding of culture, it's important to grasp how it influences health and wellbeing, including the cultural determinants of health. This involves exploring key concepts such as cultural load, cultural humility, intersectionality, critical allyship, and the role of privilege. Additionally, a strong understanding of cultural safety and the ability to engage in culturally responsive practice is essential for working effectively across diverse communities.

Module 3: Motivation for Change

Understand the role that language and culture play in shaping people's experiences and identities. Recognising the impact of deficit discourses—ways of thinking that focus on problems rather than strengths—is key, as is the value of strength-based approaches that highlight people's capabilities. Additionally, having knowledge of trauma-informed care helps ensure support is provided in a way that is sensitive to past experiences and promotes healing.

Module 4: Commitment for Change

Understanding inclusive practice in health care involves knowing how to apply practical strategies that support people from diverse backgrounds. This includes creating and using cultural support plans, supporting multilingual individuals, and promoting inclusive approaches in health promotion to increase engagement. It's also important to recognize and address health misinformation and disinformation by using safeguards to protect consumers. Health workers should understand the difference between compassion and empathy, along with the risk of empathic distress fatigue. Practicing self-compassion can benefit both health workers and those they care for, and motivational interviewing (MI) can play a key role in reducing the risk of burnout.

Skills Workshop

Providing culturally safe and trauma-informed care involves having respectful, supportive conversations about health that build trust and promote self-determination. This includes using strong interpersonal and communication skills to understand people's health goals and what motivates them. Active listening plays a key role in building trust, while self-compassion helps primary health providers maintain their wellbeing. Using practical, strengths-based strategies ensures care is empowering and focused on individuals’ abilities and resources.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

Recognise and describe how structural inequities impact health outcomes
Identify and engage with priority populations using culturally safe and responsive approaches
Apply trauma-informed, strengths-based strategies in healthcare delivery
Communicate effectively with diverse communities using practical micro-skills and MI frameworks
Promote inclusive practice, address misinformation, and support health literacy
Sustain professional wellbeing through self-care, reflection, and boundary setting

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This initiative is funded by COORDINARE - South Eastern NSW PHN.

Eligibility for this course is limited to those health professionals working within the COORDINARE - South Eastern NSW PHN region.

Eligible professions include those working in the primary healthcare and community-based healthcare organisations. Professions include:

General Practitioners
Registered and Enrolled Nurses, Nurse Practitioners
Community Workers, Allied Health Workers, AOD Workers
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioners and Health Workers
Pharmacists and other community-based healthcare providers
PHN Program Coordinators, Policy Officers.

Please contact us directly for more information.

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Continuous Professional Development

RACGP

RACGP Accreditation aims to ensure that the standard of general practice training is uniformly high throughout Australia with appropriate role models, experience, supervision and teaching.

The Health Access and Equity for Priority Populations program is RACGP Accredited and provide participants completing the program with the following recognition:

Eduction Activity 4.5 Hours
Reviewing Performance 5 Hours

Active Hours of Learning

Professional development is crucial for all health professionals in Australia to maintain clinical competency, meet Australian Health Professional Regulatory Agency (AHPRA) regulatory requirements, and ultimately to improve patient outcomes.

The Health Access and Equity for Priority Populations will provide participants with approximately 12 to 14 CPD Hours.

As a general guide, one hour of active learning equates to one hour of CPD. It is the responsibility of the individual student to calculate how many hours of active learning have been completed.

Course Category

Professions

Health Access and Equity for Priority Populations

Access and equity

Project outline