Ministers Linda Burney and Malarndirri McCarthy aware of outcry, but Marrabinya in hands of Western NSW Primary Health Network

More than 70 Indigenous patients, including elderly with chronic illnesses from remote NSW, marched in Dubbo last month to protest the WNSW PHN's decision to defund Marrabinya as a service provider of the Integrated Team Care program. Physical and online petitions to 'save Marrabinya' have also gathered more than 2000 signatures combined.

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A spokesperson for Indigenous affairs minister Linda Burney told the Daily Liberal the senator would "not need to comment" on the subject. Her office also directed the inquiry to Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, assistant minister for Indigenous health.

"I understand recent developments have caused concern, and members of the community are following this very closely," a statement from senator McCarthy said.

The statement also said she understood Marrabinya's parent organisation Maari Maa Health Aboriginal Corporation would be one of the 15 Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS) that would now provide the services Marrabinya had been looking after since 2016.

This has been one of the major reasons Indigenous patients are protesting, as they will now need to go to their local AMS instead of a Marrabinya care worker they had worked with for a long time.

WNSW PHN has said financial details for the Integrated Team Care program are confidential and that funding for the program had not changed. However, with WNSW PHN revising the program, Maari Maa workers providing the Marrabinya service would not have enough resources to help patients outside Broken Hill and Balranald regions.

WNSW PHN's changes in the Integrated Team Care program also allow secondary contractors to carry out local delivery of services. A WNSW PHN spokesperson said Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation was invited to submit a tender for review.

"The tender process was for Aboriginal and healthcare organisations as we seek secondary providers to support the local delivery of ITC services for patients, which closed on September 5. This was not open to private individuals. The successful tenders will be announced as soon as possible," a spokesperson for WNSW PHN said.

Senator McCarthy's response also pointed to how WNSW PHN made the decision to change service providers for chronically ill Indigenous patients.

"I understand this change in the service delivery model comes after feedback following region-wide stakeholder, community consultations and a co-design process that was undertaken with Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services and Aboriginal Medical Services between July 2021 and February 2022 that identified several improvement areas required to deliver better outcomes for patients," the senator's statement said.

It also said since services will be provided by Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Services and AMS, it would mean mean local delivery of the program will feature in the revised program.

"In turn, this will help ensure the services can be tailored to specific community and individual requirements," the statement said.

Many patients currently being served by the Marrabinya program say none of them were consulted in the process.

Marrabinya manager in Dubbo Donna Jeffries said they had repeatedly asked WNSW PHN to table a report to clarify who was consulted in the review of the Integrated Team Care program.

WNSW PHN hired a third party, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to carry out consultations to maintain "integrity and impartiality". After reaching out to PwC for information about consultations, WNSW PHN said that the following organisations and individuals were consulted.

"Western NSW AMSs and a number of general practices as well as:"

Federal member for Parkes Mark Coulton had also "reassured" by the PHN's decision to make changes in Indigenous health service providers. Mr Coulton said he had to take what the PHN told him "at face value".

Previously, Indigenous health expert Dr John Gilroy expressed strong concerns over the WNSW PHN switching providers of Integrated Team Care program from Marrabinya workers to AMS. Dr Gilroy had said it was important to have diversity in health services and said that Indigenous patients should have a choice when it comes to choosing between providers.

Marrabinya workers and patients will be holding a second peaceful protest march on Friday, September 23, to ask why "a successful Indigenous health program" is being defunded at the end of the year.

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