Health in the NT

Primary medical care in the Northern Territory (NT) is provided by:

• Private general practice, which operates mainly in Darwin, Alice Springs, Tenant Creek, Katherine
• Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) which may include Aboriginal community controlled health services,
• Northern Territory Department of Health and Families (NT DHF) which provides visiting Rural Medical Officer (RMO) services to a number of remote Aboriginal communities, as well as care through hospital-based emergency departments and community clinics.

Remote Area Nurses (RANs) and Aboriginal Health Workers (AHWs) support GPs to provide primary care services in remote NT settings. The models in which many GPs in the NT work are often atypical of the private general practice model prevalent across Australia.

There are significant workforce shortages in the NT and high levels of turnover which have significant implications for implementation of health care programs and which can make it difficult for practitioners to take on new initiatives which require time away from direct service provision.

However, the emphasis on multidisciplinary primary health care which is evident in the NT setting, creates opportunities to engage the whole primary health care team.

Health Demographics
There is a diversity in the spectrum of medical conditions encountered by NT health professionals. There is a very high burden of chronic disease in Aboriginal communities with a young age of onset, high prevalence of co-morbidity with a decreased life expectancy (about 20 years less than other Australians). Prevalent chronic illnesses include diabetes, renal disease, hypertension, ischaemic and rheumatic heart disease and respiratory diseases.

The underlying determinants of this spectrum of ill health are complex and include socio-economic disadvantage, environmental factors such as poor housing and high rates of smoking, obesity and substance abuse. Poor health outcomes are also linked with colonisation, dispossession, social and cultural disruption and political disempowerment.

Moreover, the combination of prevalent chronic disease with the underlying socioeconomic determinants of health has a significant impact on mental health, particularly in the remote communities, where there are relatively few mental health services available.

There is also medical conditions seen in the NT that are typically not encountered elsewhere in Australia - such as meliodosis, ciguatera poisoning, kava and petrol intoxication etc.

General NT Population: