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Box 9.7.9(continued)For example, the Tennant Creek Hospital is allocated 20 hours per week for theinterpreting roster. Negotiations occur between key staff at Tennant Creek Hospital andthe interpreter to ensure that the hours and times allocated are when there is the mostneed for the service. One hospital clinic in particular that has benefited from having theinterpreter available is the regular eye theatre clinic. By having the interpreter, thepatient is able to understand the procedure and give informed consent before surgery.As the patient is not under general anaesthetic, the interpreter is able to interpretthroughout the surgery. This practice has assisted 65 Indigenous patients who havehad surgery and approximately 305 patients who have attended outpatient eye clinicssince 2003.Source: NT Government (unpublished).9.8 Future directions in dataMental healthThere are few data from which to draw conclusions about the scope, prevalence andburden of mental health problems in Indigenous people (especially for vulnerablegroups of the Indigenous population, such as prisoners, juveniles in detention andchildren). The key challenges are to improve existing collections, such as improvingreporting for rural/remote areas, and to expand data collection instruments, such asIndigenous specific surveys and longitudinal studies of Indigenous children, toincorporate mental health modules. One of the potential benefits of the JuvenileJustice National Minimum Data Set is the possible links with other social and healthrelated data (AIHW 2004).Proportion of Indigenous people with access to their traditional landsThe ABS is likely to ask questions about homelands/traditional country in allremoteness areas as part of the 2008 NATSISS. It would be useful to ask thequestions in all remoteness areas in future health surveys also, to create a consistentthree-yearly time series.FUNCTIONAL ANDRESILIENT FAMILIESAND COMMUNITIES