National fact sheets-Medicare Locals and people with intellectual disability

We have released fact sheets on:

 

·         how Medicare Locals around Australia can act on the unmet health needs of people with intellectual disability, and

·         how local intellectual disability groups can work with Medicare Locals.

 

We request you to do two things:

1.       Publicise the fact sheets in your network. Feel free to use this email for that.  You also could put a link to the fact sheets on your website.

2.       Consider whether there are steps you can take to promote action by the Medicare Local in your area on the health of people with intellectual disability.

 

The three fact sheets are at www.nswcid.org.au/health/se-health-pages/medicare-locals.html

 

One sheet is for Medicare Locals, one for intellectual disability groups and the third provides resources and references for both groups.

 

Medicare Locals have been set up around Australia to improve primary health care services. One of their key

roles is to identify groups who are missing out on health services and coordinate services to address these gaps. Medicare Locals face a wide range of unmet local needs.  The health of people with intellectual disability is one of these. In 2009, the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission reported:

 

“The more than 300,000 people living with intellectual disability in Australia face stark health inequalities.”

 

As Dr Michael Kidd has written to us,

 

“The creation of Medicare Locals offers a wonderful opportunity to address the health inequalities which affect many people with intellectual disability.”

(Michael Kidd, past President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and President-elect, World Federation of Family Doctors.)

 

We have had valuable input to the fact sheets from Medicare Locals and other leaders in the health and disability fields around Australia.  The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing has funded the project.

 

There are 61 Medicare Locals around Australia. The first 19 were established in July 2011. A second wave commenced in January 2012, and the rest in July 2012.  To find details for your Medicare Local, see: www.yourhealth.gov.au/internet/yourhealth/publishing.nsf/content/medilocals-lp-1

 

We hope the fact sheets are helpful to you.

 

Regards

Jim Simpson

NSW Council for Intellectual Disability