Closing the gap at SALHN

Aboriginal health services

SALHN’s Aboriginal Family Clinics are the clinical service delivery arm of the Aboriginal Health Service and provides comprehensive health care in the community, tailored meaningfully for the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumer’s needs.

The Clinic has three general practitioners, Dr Kali Hayward and Dr Matthew Bourke and Dr Annapurna Nori and also offers access to Traditional Healers (or Ngangkari) to consumers.

Karpa Ngarrattendi 

The Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Unit (Karpa Ngarrattendi) began operating at Flinders Medical Centre in November 1997, and was officially opened and given the traditional Kaurna name Karpa Ngarrattendi in February 1999.

Karpa provides a range of culturally sensitive services including ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, their escorts and family understand medical procedures and hospital routines.

Please contact Karpa Ngarrattendi by calling (08) 8204 6359 or email karpa@.sa.gov.au for more information

SALHN Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan

The SALHN Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2023-2025 reflects our commitment to build on the strong foundations and relationships we have for sustainable, thoughtful, and impactful reconciliation outcomes into the future.

Driven by our purpose of “providing reliable and respectful health care”, our focus for reconciliation is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples share the same health outcomes, rights, respect and access to health services, opportunities and benefits as all Australians.

The Reconciliation Action Plan provides a framework to foster these deep connections:

  • Relationships: We have been committed to developing stronger, genuine, and meaningful partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, organisations, and community members, to achieve best health outcomes for individuals, families and communities.
  • Respect: SALHN is committed to demonstrating a deep respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ and we believe that having a comprehensive understanding of historical factors and how these impacts on the social determinants of health, is an important aspect of introducing new ways of working to better improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
  • Opportunities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, organisations, and communities are vital partners of ours. We will ‘listen, act, make better…together’ with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and stakeholders to progress the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander South Australians.

Thank you to the community for playing such an important role in shaping this plan, and for continuing to be part of our reconciliation journey.

SALHN Aboriginal Health Equity Plan 2025-2027

SALHN is committed to addressing the health inequities experienced and lived by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia. View the SALHN Aboriginal Health Equity Plan 2025-2027 (PDF 15MB).

Through this plan we, in partnership with community, seek to address inequity in opportunities, access and representation experienced by the people of these communities.

Collectively we have been on a journey to understand the needs of Aboriginal people, and the complexities they face when accessing care at SALHN and more broadly in South Australia. This will inform our direction and actions, ensuring they have a meaningful impact for the communities we serve.

This plan is not the beginning of our journey in Aboriginal Health Equity but is an important milestone that collectively articulates our commitments as a health service agency to do better, to grow and listen in partnership to achieve positive, lasting change.

Aboriginal Health Cultural Identity Artwork


About the artist

SALHN’s Health and Healing Journey artwork features the work of Aboriginal artist David ‘Munge’ Weetra-Branson. An Aboriginal artist of over 25 years, Munge paints Aboriginal Dreaming stories from different parts of Australia, capturing the true spirit of Aboriginal history and culture in a very unique art style.

About the artwork

The artwork represents the health and healing journey that SALHN takes with people in achieving outcomes with the communities we serve.

There are eight meeting places which depict the network and sites where SALHN provides culturally safe and responsive care.

Each service has different tools which people use to help with the healing journey.

The tools represent both clinical and non-clinical knowledge, practice, skills, and expertise provided across SALHN’s many services.

The background dots depict the colours of the sea, creeks, rivers, sands, and beaches.

The lands of the Kaurna people hold the knowledge and stories of health and healing, and the importance of relationship between people and place.

For a full description of the artwork, please see SALHN’s Health and Healing Journey information sheet (PDF 2.19MB).

SALHN Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consumer Group

SALHN’s first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consumer Group was established in February 2019. 

This new consumer group is a very exciting initiative that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to partner with SALHN to form genuine formal partnership and provide a forum for ongoing engagement.

There are 13 Members from both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background who will have a significant role in:

  • Providing advice, feedback and improvement suggestions relating to the healthcare needs and issues of Aboriginal people to enable SALHN to achieve better health and wellbeing outcomes for our community.
  • Identifying, promoting and reflecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and culture within SALHN Buildings and spaces.
  • Providing feedback and input to SALHN on its services, planning and performance in relation to the care and support provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait people.

Tappa Purruna

Tappa Purruna at Flinders Medical Centre is the space between the Rehabilitation Building and the main FMC Building. This particular site was selected to connect the cleansing waters of the nearby creek with the hospital building.

The underlying theme of Tappa Purruna ‘The Journey of Life’ is symbolic of the cycle of birth, life and death and acknowledges the Kaurna people’s custodianship of the land and their continuing presence, in a place of healing.