Refugee Health

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Health / Services

Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic

Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic (MRCCC) is a primary care, psychiatry, and paediatric service for people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. Established in 2002, MRCCC is a Mater mission initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities in south-east Queensland. MRCCC clinicians and nurses have extensive specialist skills and interest in refugee health.

Visit Materonline for more information and links to referral forms.

Find our more about the services provided by the Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic here

Mater cares for people of a refugee background through a wide range of services including:mater

Mater Multicultural Health Coordination Program

Mater Multicultural Health Coordination Program (MHCP) offers a care coordination service that aims to enhance the health and health literacy of people from multicultural backgrounds with complex health needs. The team including nurses, social worker and program staff work in partnership with the patient, their community GP and other health and community stakeholders.  Services offered are informed by an initial assessment and may include short term engagements, joint goal setting and longer term (up to 12 months) care coordination and advocacy support. 

Core Activities include:

  • assessment and care coordination  
  • family and carer support 
  • health literacy including education on health conditions, medications and health systems 
  • facilitating patient access to community support organisations, including housing, employment services, financial support (e.g. Centrelink), NGO and peer support workers, GPs and medical specialists 
  • systemic advocacy to build equitable health system responses and engagement

People living in Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich regions from a multicultural background from across the lifespan with complex health and/or social needs and are experiencing health system barriers can be referred or self-refer to this program.  

Refugee Health Connect

Refugee Health Connect (RHC) is a partnership between Brisbane South PHN, Brisbane North PHN, Multicultural Australia and Mater Hospital Brisbane.

RHC is a one point of call for assistance with identifying appropriate primary health providers in the Brisbane South and Brisbane North regions. They refer to GPs in the community who provide health assessments in partnership with Mater Refugee Health Nurses who outreach to the GP Practices. RHC also provide information about ongoing care for all people from a refugee background.

Brisbane Refugee Health Advisory Group

The Brisbane Refugee Health Advisory Group comprises 11 Health Development Consultants who are all regarded as leaders in their respective communities from South Sudan, Eritrea, Burundi, Rwanda, Liberia, Somalia, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Burma.

The group is a mechanism through which health services can have access to the voice of refugee communities. The group also facilitates training and education of staff, participate in research projects and contribute to developing health literacy resources.

More information about the Refugee Health Advisory Group (known as the ‘G11’) here or contact Ally Wakefield, Refugee Health – Capacity Building and Resource Coordinator on email ally.wakefield@mater.org.au or phone 07 3163 6355.

Refugee Health Network Queensland

The Refugee Health Network Queensland was established in 2016 to facilitate greater coordination and collaboration amongst health and community services to provide more accessible and appropriate health services for people of refugee backgrounds.

For more information visit Refugee Health Network Qld website or contact Vicky Jacobson, Refugee Health Network Queensland Coordinator on  07 3163 2958 or email Vicky.jacobson@mater.org.au

Refugee Health Resources for Clinicians and GPs 

Refugee Health Resources for Clinicians and GPs can be found on Mater Online - Mater's website for the medical community.

Celebrating 21 years of the Mater Refugee Complex Care Clinic (MRCCC)

Mater’s Refugee Complex Care Clinic provides compassionate healthcare to these communities, including people with complex health needs, and to people seeking asylum without Medicare.

As this longest serving clinic of its kind in Australia, MRCCC is symbolic of Mater’s Mission: to respond to unmet community need and provide care to those who need it most.

Under an incredibly passionate and diverse team of nurses, GPs and refugee health consultants, MRCCC services over 300 patients per year, 70% of whom do not have access to Medicare.

With patients representing more than 67 countries, the clinic and has always been responsive to changing global conditions — most recently including COVID-19, the war in the Ukraine and the Afghanistan evacuation.