Healthcare Services

Metro North Hospital and Health Service has Indigenous Health Liaison Officers (IHLO) working within each hospital across the Metro North catchment area.  The staff at each location are on hand to assist with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients presenting at any of the hospitals, providing the following support:

• Bedside visits to explain the hospital system and act as a liaison between patients, their families and hospital staff regarding treatment
• Assist patients and their families to access hospital and community support services
• Transportation support for eligible patients
• Coordination of care from hospital to home including rural, remote and regional patients
• Facilitate and participate in family meetings
• Assist with language barriers
• Assist with Inter-hospital transfers.

Easily identifiable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access phones are located at the main entrance of The Royal Brisbane and Women’s, Caboolture and Redcliffe Hospitals.  These phones have direct dialling to the IHLO offices.

Contact

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Phone: (07) 3647 9535

The Prince Charles Hospital
Phone: (07) 3139 6300

Caboolture Hospital
Phone: (07) 54336 8249

Redcliffe Hospital
Phone: (07) 3049 6791

The Health Worker works within multidisciplinary teams to provide culturally appropriate support, advice, guidance and advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers and treating teams. Health Workers provide a range of health services depending upon the work setting and individual scope of practice.  These may include:

• Cultural assessment and screening of social and emotional wellbeing
• Health education for risk factors (tobacco, alcohol, healthy eating, physical activity)
• Facilitate care plans and/or treatment plans activities in partnership with clinicians.
• Encourage and support patients in self-care and self-management
• Advocate for consumers and families in the hospital environment, negotiating satisfactory outcomes for all parties and facilitating effective communication in a flexible and empathetic manner
• Providing advice, support and training on culturally appropriate practices to other health professionals, policy makers, researchers and educators
• Provide ongoing consultation and liaison with the relevant clinician to ensure that cultural support and guidance is available following the allocation process and throughout the process of case management for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers.

Contact

Phone: (07) 3646 0784

The Indigenous Community Liaison Workers are a part of the Referral and Navigation Services within Community and Oral Health Services and provide culturally appropriate support, advocacy and advice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities within the Metro North catchment, from the Brisbane River to Kilcoy on health-related issues by providing:

• Advocacy for consumers and families
• Co-ordination of care
• Home visits
• Health promotion with a specific focus on chronic disease and risk factors
• Transport to health appointments for eligible clients
• Referral to appropriate GP, Allied Health and Specialist medical services and supporting services

Contact

Central Referral

Phone: 1300 658 252
Fax: (07) 3360 4822

Cultural Capability Officers are responsible for building a culturally capable workforce through the provision of culturally appropriate support, advice and training.  Awareness content will address the needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community which includes; patients, their families and the larger communities. This role includes:

• Assuming a role of leadership in the provision of cultural advice and guidance across the facility
• Orientation and face to face training sessions for all MNHHS staff, as part of the mandatory Cultural Capability Program
• Active promotion and development of staff cultural capability through the provision of mentoring/coaching, resource development, workshops and targeted staff education including; accurate Indigenous patient identification and discharge against medical advice.
• Cultural audits of facilities and services to identify areas for ongoing service improvement
• Undertaking community liaison by closely communicating and cooperating with relevant government and non-government agencies.

Contact

Caboolture / Redcliffe Hospital

Phone: 0437 756 698

The Prince Charles Hospital

Phone: (07) 3139 6623

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

Phone: (07) 3646 7661

General contact

Email: ATSI_CulturalCapability_MNHHS@health.qld.gov.au

Ngarrama is a free antenatal and birthing service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who choose to birth at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Caboolture, Kilcoy and Redcliffe Hospitals.

Any woman who is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or any woman whose baby is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander can use the service.

How can we help you?

Early care

• It’s important we know about your pregnancy early to support you and your baby with a strong start to life

Cultural centred care

• Care is and feels culturally and clinically safe during pregnancy and up to 6 weeks after birth
• You are involved in decision making

Access to specialist care

• Access to an Advanced Indigenous Health Worker
• Access to obstetricians and other specialists if required

Home visits

• Pregnancy check-ups at a location suitable to you
• Appointments are offered either in your birthing hospital, community clinic or in your home as needed

Strong start to life for baby

• Check-ups and support after your baby is born for up to 6 weeks
• Breastfeeding support and guidance
• Contraception information

Support with navigating

• The hospital system
• Liaison with other clinical staff

Extra care and support

• Housing referrals and support
• Smoking cessation education and assistance
• Child health education and guidance

Contact

Ngarrama Caboolture
Indigenous Health Worker:  0439 732 970
Pregnancy issues call Birth Suite:  5433 8888
Caboolture Hospital: McKean St, Caboolture
Community Clinic: 12 King St, Caboolture

Ngarrama Redcliffe
Maternity ward: 3883 7709
Indigenous Health Worker: 0407251890
Redcliffe Hospital: Anzac Ave, Redcliffe

Ngarrama Royal
Phone: 3646 3759
Indigenous Health Worker: 0428 404 875
Email: Ngarrama.royal@health.qld.gov.au
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH)
Level 5, Ned Hanlon Building,
Butterfield St, Herston

ICOP is a specialised cardiac outreach service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in rural and remote communities in Queensland. ICOP is a tertiary service which consists of a multidisciplinary team delivering early intervention, risk management and pathology assessment, delivering point of care, diagnostic and consultation in cardiovascular and chronic disease screening. Established in 2007, ICOP currently services 35 rural and remote sites across Queensland.

The team consists of a Specialist Cardiologist, Echocardiogram Scientist, Cardiac Nurse and Indigenous Program Coordinator. As required patient consults involve patients receiving an ECG, pathology, various simple points of care testing including HbA1c (blood glucose), lipid profiling (cholesterol), BNP (brain natriuretic peptide measures cardiac protein levels) and EPOC (blood gas).

Referral

Can be made through an Indigenous Health Worker or any local Doctor- or make an appointment with the ICOP via the email or phone number below:

Location: Building 7 Lower Ground Floor Administration Building, The Prince Charles Hospital
Phone: (07) 3139 3246
Email: TPCH_ICOP@health.qld.gov.au
Open: Monday-Friday 8.00am to 4.00pm

The Indigenous Sexual Health team provide culturally appropriate support, advocacy and advice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities within the Metro North catchment, from the Brisbane River to Kilcoy on various men’s and women’s business by providing;

• Treatment access
• Education
• Prevention advice and service including condom distribution
• Transport and client support for specialised medical appointments
• Other service referrals
• Community engagement including home visits
• Health promotion, focused around sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs)
• Men’s and Women’s reproductive health / fertility advice- (Cultural support)
• Discreet contact tracing for sexually transmissible infections and blood borne viruses

Contact

Phone: (07) 3360 4753

The Nurse Navigators are expected to operate beyond the traditional silos of care and work with other healthcare providers to address the needs of the consumer while recognising that flexibility is required to meet individual/ community needs. There are 4 Navigation principles which aim to support the consumer journey in what has become increasingly complex health systems. This facilitation will be achieved by reducing fragmentation, mitigating barriers, educating, empowering and coordinating consumer driven care. These roles are intended to transcend across multiple specialities, support nurse-led service models, and augment existing models of care within a facility or clinical area.

• use a multi-disciplinary approach to monitor complex care patients, identify actions required to manage their health care and direct patients to the right service, at the right time and in the right place.
• provide a central point of communication and engagement to ensure optimal care and coordination of services along a patient’s entire health care journey.
• educate and help patients to better understand their health conditions, enabling them to self-manage, participate in decisions about their health care and improve their own health outcomes.

Contact

Each MNHHS site with a Navigator has their own referral path, referral will be via your existing hospital or community health services pathway.

Indigenous Mental Health Intervention Program (IMHIP) is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led, multidisciplinary, social and emotional wellbeing service for Indigenous people in custody.
IMHIP provides a culturally safe recovery model framework to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with complex needs, who are in custody, to reintegrate into the community and establishes contacts with appropriate mental health services

An offer of service may be provided by either the IMHIP worker or clinician and is a voluntary service.

The IMHIP service will:

• ensure appropriate cultural consideration shapes assessment, treatment and care
• recognise trauma, and grief and loss (including inter-generational trauma) in the care needs
• recognise family and kinship bonds and responsibility
• recognise individual and cultural strengths, creativity and endurance

The role IMHIP service can provide:

• early identification of mental health and/or social and emotional wellbeing needs
• mental health and/or social and emotional wellbeing assessment support
• support for return to community (transition and post-release support)
• linkages and referrals to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations and community organisations for ongoing support

Contact

Phone: (07) 3234 0800

Better Together Medication Access will cover all out-of-pocket expenses for prescribed discharge medication for all self-identifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people discharging from our hospitals and facilities.

Better Together Medication Access is another way that we are closing the gap in healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, helping you to live well and live longer.

If you are visiting one of our hospitals or facilities, you will be asked the question – “Are you of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Origin?”. If you identify, regardless of age, you will eligible for Better Together Medication Access.

By identifying you will also receive support from culturally appropriate services including our Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officers to assist your healthcare journey and recovery back to community.

Contact

For more information, talk to staff caring for you or contact your local Metro North Hospital and Health Service Pharmacy team.