Forgetting Compliance

Forgetting Compliance:
Aboriginal Health and Medical Culture

Kim Humphery and Tarun Weeramanthri with Joseph Fitz

This study provides both a critical insight into the institutionalised culture of health services provision in the Northern Territory and, most importantly, points towards ways in which that culture can be transformed. We conclude that 'compliance', thought of as a measure of patient uptake, must be forgotten. Instead, provision and uptake issues must be thought about simultaneously, as two sides of the one coin. Although 'local' in focus, the findings of the study have ramifications for Aboriginal health policy and service provision nationally.