FUNDING RESTRAINTS CAUSE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DDHS
MEDIA RELEASE
3 June 2021
FUNDING RESTRAINTS CAUSE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FOR VISITORS TO DARWIN
IN ACCESSING DANILA DILBA HEALTH SERVICES
Unfortunately, due to funding restraints Danila Dilba is not able to take on any new clinic clients.
Danila Dilba CEO Olga Havnen said “This has been a very difficult decision to make by our board and senior leadership team. We’ve received the same amount of funding for years, with a growing client base with no growing funding allocation. It’s not sustainable and realistically we need more funding to do the work we are doing.
“30% of our clients are visitors to Darwin and our funding is specifically for Darwin residents only. This puts us in a tough position and it needs to change as we know Darwin is a hub for all our surrounding community people, who deserve primary health care wherever they are. There is a clear need for a service like ours to have the capacity to take on all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Darwin and surrounding regions – we need the funding to allow us to do this without stretching our workforce any further”
“If we don’t make these changes we would be irresponsible and not fair to our workforce, clients and community.”
“Danila Dilba doesn’t want to make these changes – but without additional funding we can’t continue to take on more clients.”
“Almost every part of our operation has been reviewed to make sure we are as efficient as possible. Despite all this effort we have not received the extra funding we need so the Board has taken the responsible decision that we can’t continue as we are and have to make changes so we can operate within our funding. The Board and the CEO continue to press governments to increase our funding and recognise the particular needs and costs of operating in Darwin and Palmerston.”
Danila Dilba will continue to monitor the situation and if in the future, we are able to do so, we will open back up to new clients . This will largely depend on available funding and adequate staffing levels.
COVID Vaccine Centres continue to be open to new clients – but only to get the vaccines, not for further health care.
MEDIA CONTACT
Libby Collins
0419 634 686