The Coffs Harbour Health Campus’s Refugee Health Clinic is looking for local GPs willing to take refugees into their practices as permanent patients.
Refugees have complex and diverse health care needs and Coffs Harbour is fortunate to have the specialist clinic to provide a comprehensive health service for newly arrived humanitarian refugees.
However, evidence from the clinic suggests the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)/refugee population faces significant barriers to accessing mainstream primary health care.
Reasons for this include language, cultural and financial barriers, reduced ability to trust service providers and to negotiate the health system, out-of-pocket costs, and lack of available GPs.
Since 2000, Coffs Harbour and surrounds have seen arrivals from Myanmar (Burma), Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and eight African countries. Over the past two years most new arrivals have been from Myanmar.
In 2021, 15.6% of people in Coffs Harbour were born overseas, compared with 12.2% in regional NSW. There are people from a refugee-like background from at least 15 countries, speaking up to 40 languages. During 2022 the area welcomed 173 refugees.
The Refugee Health Clinic was established in 2006 due to the efforts of Clinical Nurse Consultant Michele Greenwood, seven GPs and the Director of Public Health for the Mid North Coast Local Health District. They realised the need for a specialist clinic to care for the specific health needs of refugees.
At the clinic nurses conduct an initial health assessment of each person, make referrals to a range of services and conduct immunisation clinics for catch-up vaccinations.
‘The GPs in the clinic then review bloods, carry out a clinical examination and organise prescriptions and referrals,’ Ms Greenwood said. ‘Our nurses coordinate all follow-up appointments, have medications dispensed and explained using interpreters.’
The clinic is a service with limited resources and prepares its many patients for the transition to mainstream primary health care.
If you are interested in taking refugees into your practice, please contact Melissa Hobbs, Population Health Lead at Healthy North Coast, email: [email protected].