Working with Vulnerable People
The ability to access appropriate healthcare is a major component of a person’s enablement. People from CALD backgrounds can face multiple barriers to accessible healthcare, including the following.
- Lack of awareness that a service exists or that it could benefit them.
- Financial - being unable to afford services, or not seeking services because they assume they can’t afford them.
- Lack of transport.
- Mistrust of authority figures including health and medical professionals.
- Feeling intimidated and afraid to access services that do not feel culturally safe.
- Cultural beliefs about disease causes and management, different gender roles, and family involvement in decisions about health.
- Language barriers.
All migrants to Australia should be supported to access information and education about the Australian health system. People are better at looking after their health when they know what healthcare services they can access, what they will cost and where to go for more information
Working with Refugees
People who come to Australia as refugees have complex healthcare needs.
- Compassionate, respectful healthcare can be a significant contributor to re-establishing people’s dignity, self-respect and self-esteem. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians recommends that health services should consistently affirm the dignity of refugees.1
- Refugees can have high rates of preventable conditions and psychosocial morbidity. They may have had poor access to health services in their home countries and suffer chronic conditions as a consequence of poorly managed acute conditions or injuries.
- The impact of trauma can significantly affect the health of refuges and their ability to access and engage with healthcare. Refugees often suffer trauma from experiences of natural disasters, war, genocide, torture, rape, oppression and loss of family and friends; and the effects may persist in subsequent generations.
Where do Australia’s refugees come from?
Country of birth |
Visas granted 2018-19 |
---|---|
Iraq |
7,095 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
2,144 |
Myanmar |
1,995 |
Syria |
1,836 |
Afghanistan |
1,323 |
Ethiopia |
635 |
Eritrea |
555 |
Iran |
367 |
Bhutan |
254 |
Tibet |
189 |
Resources
Resources for working with refugee people
- Appointment Reminder Translation ToolOrganisationNSW Refugee Health ServiceDescriptionA tool that allows allows you to translate appointment details into your client's language.Licensing/Cost--
- Promoting Refugee HealthOrganisationFoundation House – The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture IncDescriptionA online guide for doctors, nurses and other health care providers caring for people from refugee backgrounds.Licensing/Cost--
- Refugee Health Network of AustraliaOrganisationThe Refugee Health Network of Australia (RHeaNA)DescriptionThe Refugee Health Network of Australia (RHeaNA) is a national network of health and community professionals who share an interest and/or expertise in refugee health.Licensing/Cost--
- Towards better health for refugee children and young people in Australia and New ZealandOrganisationRACPDescriptionA report of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians that collates the literature and proposes recommendations to improve the delivery of healthcare to refugee children and young people.Licensing/Cost--
- Trauma-Informed Care and Practice in Mental Health ServicesOrganisationACI Mental Health NetworkDescriptionA project that aims to improve the experience of care for consumers, families and staff through the provision of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice in mental health services. Includes links to further reading.Licensing/Cost--
- Policy Directive: Medicare Ineligible Asylum Seekers - Provision of Specified Public Health ServicesOrganisationNSW HealthDescriptionThis Policy Directive provides a process to identify Medicare ineligible community-based asylum seekers. It also lists services that attract a waiver of fees and instructions on what to charge when a waiver does not apply.Licensing/Cost--
- NSW Refugee Health ServiceOrganisationNSW HealthDescriptionA service to improve and protect the health of refugees in NSW.Licensing/Cost--
- NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)OrganisationSTARTTSDescriptionSTARTTS supports refugees who have been exposed to traumatic events, they publish a range of resources for clinicians and refugee people including the Hints for Healing website.Licensing/Cost--
- Culturally responsive clinical practice: Working with people from migrant and refugee backgroundsOrganisationMigrant & Refugee Health PartnershipDescriptionCompetency Standards Framework for Clinicians working with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.Licensing/Cost--
- Words that Work: Making the best case for people seeking asylumOrganisationAsylum Seeker Resource CentreDescriptionWords that Work is the result of a multi-phase research project to uncover the language that most effectively changes the debate around people seeking asylum and champions the principles that seeking asylum is a fundamental human right and all people have the right to live in peace.Licensing/Cost--
- Effective and respectful communication in forced displacementOrganisationUNHCR, The UN Refugee AgencyDescriptionThis guide for people working with refugees supports effective and respectful communication provides guidance on dealing with and managing stress and emotions, enabling staff to treat refugee people with dignity and empathy, and to further facilitate and strengthen effective communication.Licensing/Cost--