Marking National Reconciliation Week in Australia

At Icon, we’re committed to creating spaces that Indigenous people could consider culturally safe for our team and patients. Through our Indigenous Employee Led Inclusion Group (ELIG), we’re working to make our sites and workplaces safer and more inclusive.

According to the Australian Cancer Plan, despite Australia’s high cancer survival rates, the mortality gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is widening. From 1998 to 2015, the age-standardised mortality rate for all cancers increased by 26% for First Nations Australians, decreasing by 16% for non-Indigenous Australians.

At Icon, we believe we have both an opportunity and an obligation to improve these outcomes.

Our Indigenous ELIG

Icon’s Indigenous ELIG brings together passionate clinical and administrative team members dedicated to creating culturally safe environments, guiding inclusive actions and policies. The ELIG is working to ensure First Nations peoples receive the best care possible

Our actions

Over the past year, our Indigenous ELIG has achieved notable milestones:

• Partnerships for Culturally Safe Cancer Care Grant: Applied for a government grant of up to $1m to implement changes in our cancer care and pharmacy divisions to directly impact Indigenous cancer care journeys, guided by Indigenous knowledges.
• Cultural Safety Consideration Playbook: Created a playbook for managers to foster more welcoming, inclusive, and safe environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our commitment to reconciliation extends beyond National Reconciliation Week.

We are dedicated to continuing these efforts and initiating new projects and policies to reduce care gaps, contributing to ongoing reconciliation and sharing our progress.