Background
Indigenous Australians experience more chronic foot and leg complications than non-Indigenous Australians. This project investigated the participation of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) community in public sector podiatry and diabetes services on the Central Coast, NSW.
Methods
Clinical data were audited from the Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) podiatry and diabetes departments from 2009 to 2013, including data from two acute hospitals, two sub-acute hospitals and ten community-based health centres.
Results
Over the 5 year audit period, the frequency of appointments for ATSI people in the podiatry wound services approximately doubled. By 2013, an ATSI person in the wound service attended on average 3.5 times more appointments per year than a non-ATSI person in that service. Over the audit period, the number of ATSI people who accessed the diabetes service approximately doubled, while there was comparatively small growth (9.50%) in the number of ATSI people who accessed podiatry services.
Conclusion
ATSI people in the CCLHD podiatry wound service accessed the service more frequently than non-ATSI people and this discrepancy widened over the audit period. Most ATSI people in the CCLHD diabetes service did not access CCLHD podiatry services.