The NT Remote Locum Program is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led remote health workforce program. We work to strengthen and uplift existing health services in the NT to provide quality healthcare to their communities.

Behind the NT Remote Locum Program is a team focused on improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We’re educators, support staff and experts in remote health workforce solutions who:

  • recruit, deploy and support urban health professionals to work in remote and very remote NT
  • seek, build and maintain strong partnerships with remote clinics and communities, peak bodies and others in the health and community-controlled sector to support their important work.

Our aims

The NT Remote Locum Program supports self-determination for communities to address the critical workforce shortages in remote NT Aboriginal communities.

We aim for a remote health system that keeps improving in quality and is culturally and locally responsive to the health needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our approach

Our approach is to work in genuine partnership with communities and Indigenous clinics so our support is relevant to their needs. To do this, we:

  • collaborate to develop and deliver a solution
  • recruit health professionals with the skills communities say they need better access to
  • deploy those healthcare professionals into communities, and support them throughout their time with the NT Remote Locum Program.

We also ensure Health Professionals have the right experience, skills and qualifications to deliver culturally responsive, quality care.

Our pool of Health Professionals includes:

  • General Practitioners
  • Nurses
  • Oral Health Professionals
  • Audiologists
  • Allied Health Professionals.

With the NT Remote Locum Program, Health Professionals also get initial training and access to ongoing cultural education.

The NT Remote Locum Program does not replace the existing health service. We’re filling shortfalls, supporting and adding value to local services through genuine consultation.

Closing the Gap on health outcomes

The Australian Government funds the NT Remote Locum Program under its Indigenous Australians Health Program (IAHP).

Under our funding agreement, we support the Government to meet these Closing the Gap health targets:

  • Close the gap in life expectancy within a generation, by 2031.
  • Halve the gap in mortality rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under 5, within a decade.

We also support the new National Agreement for Closing the Gap and its focus on equality through community control and self-determination.

The NT Remote Locum Program delivers outcomes that meet the National Agreement for Closing the Gap’s Priority Reforms:

  1. Formal Partnerships and Shared Decision Making
  2. Building the Community-Controlled Sector

Supporting a sustainable remote healthcare system

Our strategy is fully Indigenous-focused and -led. We work in partnership with communities to fill workforce shortfalls they identify in remote Aboriginal health clinics, including:

  • Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHO)
  • NT Government clinics in central and Top end NT.

We’re about adding value and capacity to Aboriginal health clinics – not working in competition with them.