THE
MULTICULTURAL
HEALTH POLICY
UNIT IS
Multicultural Health Matters
A U T U M N
2 0 1 5
AVAILABLE TO
ATTEND AND
PROVIDE
INFORMATION
TO ANY TEAM
MEETINGS
Training Opportunities
Under the ACT Health revised
Essential Education Policy and
Guidelines, training in a)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Cultural Awareness
a n d b ) b r o a d e r Cultural
Competence has been specified
in the ‘highly recommended’
category. Staff members and
their managers are required to
discuss the listed training
courses in this category to
identify whether they are
applicable to their job role.
Training that is identified as
applicable is to be noted in the
Performance Plan.
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
Cultural Competence
Cultural competence is the
ability to work effectively with
consumers (including carers)
and colleagues from culturally
and linguistically diverse (CALD)
backgrounds, such as people
born overseas, people who
speak a language other than
English at home, migrants,
asylum seekers, refugees and
their families. Some, but not all,
people from CALD
backgrounds have limited
English proficiency (LEP).
 Reflecting on how culture
To complement the face-to-face
Cultural Competence Course
offered by Staff Development,
the Multicultural Health Policy
Unit has developed an elearning package which will
shortly become available
through Capabiliti.
The e-learning covers:
Working with Interpreters
Free face-to face training is now
available, delivered by
Companion House (see page 2).
Through presentations,
facilitated discussion, hand outs
and case studies you will be able
to identify when interpreters
are needed, and how to book
and conduct successful
interpreting sessions. Remaining
dates for the 90 minute session
this year are: 13 May, 17
September and 10 December.
Book through Capabiliti.
 Identifying reasons why ACT
Health staff need to be
culturally competent.
 Identifying your own culture,
may impact on health
outcomes.
The package is designed to take
no more than thirty minutes to
complete
Companion
House
2
New on-line
resources
2
For your
diary
2
Navigating
the health
system
3
Multicultural Health Reference Group
New TIS online booking
service
3
The Unit has established a
Reference Group with
representation from:
Health
literacy
course
begins
4
Centre for
4
Culture,
Ethnicity and
Health
 ACT Medicare Local
 Canberra Multicultural
Community Forum
 Carers ACT
 Companion House
 Health Care Consumers’
Association.
Terms of Reference have been
agreed and the role of the
Group is to:
values and beliefs.
 Reflecting on how culture
may influence the way you
interact with consumers and
other staff.
 Consider issues related to
health service provision to
CALD and/or LEP
consumers within ACT
Health and across the ACT
health system.
 Provide a forum to
strengthen relationships,
liaison and information
sharing.
 Identify and promote
opportunities for
collaboration on initiatives
In addition, an e-learning
package on working with
interpreters is being finalised
and will be advertised when
available.
to improve the health
outcomes of CALD and/or
LEP consumers.
 Provide advice to the Unit
on the implementation of
Towards Culturally
Appropriate and Inclusive
Services – a Co-ordinating
Framework for ACT Health
(2014-18).
The Group meets monthly at
the Theo Notaras Multicultural
Centre.
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2
Companion House
Companion House was
founded in 1989 to care for
survivors of torture and
trauma who have sought
refuge in Australia.
For its first eleven years
Companion House was called
Transact (Treatment and
Rehabilitation and Network
Service of the ACT).
Companion House is
at 41 Templeton St,
Cook.
Canberrans come
from over 175
countries around
the world, so our
services must be
able to respond to
cultural diversity,
remembering that
our staff reflect
this diversity.
Companion House is part of
the FASSTT (Forum of
Australian Services for
Survivors of Torture and
Trauma) network, established
in 1992.
The Companion House
Medical Service provides
general practice and primary
facilitated referrals to dental,
allied health and specialists.
health services for refugees in
their first 12 months in
Australia. Patients then
continue to use the service
until a community GP is found
to refer to in their local area.
Companion House reports
that this process may take a
little time due to Canberra's
relative shortage of GPs.
Companion House has
provided valuable insights into
the experience of their clients
in accessing interpreters in
the ACT health system and at
Canberra Hospital and Health
Services.
The Medical Service is also
used by asylum seekers and
people from refugee
backgrounds with complex
needs.
These insights have informed
our efforts to increase
interpreter use across the
organisation and improve staff
capacity to work effectively
with interpreters.
The service is committed to
long GP consultations, bulk
billing and interpreter use.
The service provides
Find out more about the
work of Companion House at
www.companionhouse.org.au
New On-line Resources
New Section on Health
Internet
The redesigned ACT Health
internet site is now in
operation. Many of the
resources previously available
only internally on the intranet
are now available on the
internet at
www.health.act.gov/
multicultural.
Community Profiles
We are continuing to develop
ACT specific community
cultural profiles. The profiles
are intended to assist you to
better understand and
appreciate possible cultural
impacts on health in culturally
and linguistically diverse
(CALD) communities.
We have just added a new
profile on Sudan to join the
ones already available on
Afghanistan, Burma, China,
India, the Philippines, South
Sudan and Sri Lanka. Work is
underway for profiles for Iran,
Iraq, and Vietnam.
Please take care when using
the profiles. They are
intended for general guidance
only. It is important to
understand that there is great
diversity and change within
communities and people do
not fit into a pre-determined
and unchanging cultural ‘box’
or stereotype. The
information presented will
not apply to all people from a
particular country or
community.
TIS Client Codes
Need your TIS Client Code
or ATIS Voice Account
Number or Access Code? See
“Interpreting Services” in the
multicultural health section of
the intranet.
For your diary!
13-15 April
Songkran - Thai New Year
Thai communities across Australia celebrate this festival with
food, crafts and entertainment.
13 April
Sinhala and Tamil New Year
The two main Sri Lankan ethnic groups, the Sinhalese and the
Tamils, celebrate a common traditional New Year on this day.
Sunday 14 - Saturday 20 June
Refugee Week
Celebrating the positive contributions made by refugees
AUTUMN
2015
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Helping Navigate the Health System
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Availability and locations of services
How to pay for services
Asking for an interpreter
Medicare, Centrelink and ACT Services
Access Cards
Questions to ask the doctor
Tests, scans and specialists
Rights and responsibilities when using
Australian health services
Useful contact numbers and websites.
In addition, stand alone summaries of the
most essential services have been produced:
Which Health Service Do I Need? Information in
English is presented on one side, and
translated on the other side into key
languages: Chinese (simple and traditional),
Vietnamese, Arabic, Farsi, Korean and Karen.
These resources are also available on both the
intranet and the new internet site.
The guide is adapted with permission from
Northern Territory Medicare Local’s Health
Services Information for New Arrivals. It is
written in plain English and valuable comment
and input was received through the Reference
Group (see page 1) and from the ACT
Chinese Aged Care Information and Referral
Service. Although designed primarily for
people from CALD backgrounds, it has been
suggested that the guide will be useful for
many in the ACT community.
The Unit has developed a guide to help
people, especially new arrivals from overseas,
to choose the right health service when they
are sick or injured. The Minister for Health,
Simon Corbell, launched the guide at the
Multicultural Festival on 15 February.
The publication includes important
information about:
 Which health service should be used for
different health problems, including calling
000 in an emergency
The initial print run of 1,000 copies is nearly
exhausted after targeted distribution to a
range of organisations working with people
from CALD backgrounds, including providers
of migrant English classes. A second print of
2,000 copies is in progress. Thus far over 600
copies have been pre-ordered. For copies of
the handbook, contact Catherine Gray, on
(02) 6205 4050 or [email protected]
An electronic version is available on both the
intranet and the new internet site.
New TIS on-line service for on-site bookings
All work areas with a TIS account are autoTIS Online is an automated booking request
and allocation system which allows you to self matically registered to use TIS Online.
manage on-site interpreter bookings online.
Your TIS account administrator for your area
 Manage your bookings with visibility of should have received a TIS Online invitation
email from TIS National which includes a link
on-site interpreter requests and bookings,
for you to log into the account and start invitallowing you to view and make updates
ing other administrators and individual users
quickly and easily.
to use the account.
 Keep informed with automatic notifica- If you are the administrator for your area’s
tions by email or SMS as the status of your TIS account and you did not receive a welbookings change.
come invitation email, please contact the TIS
Online Support team (call 1300 655 082 or
 Quickly secure an interpreter in the
shortest possible time frame while ensuring email [email protected]).
you receive the highest credentialed inter- More information about TIS Online, including
preter available.
some useful videos and support resources, is
available from the TIS Online section of the
 Stay connected. TIS Online works on
web site: www.tisnational.gov.au.
mobile devices, allowing you to manage
your bookings anywhere, anytime.
 Easily update your details and invite
other staff members to use the account.
Please note this new service applies only
to bookings for on-site interpreters.
Health literacy development course has begun
Participants in the health literacy development
course with a focus on cultural and linguistic
diversity advertised last year attended the
first workshop on 4 March.
participating organisations and contributes to
the body of knowledge and experience of
health literacy in Australia.
Course structure
The participants come from both clinical and
non-clinical areas, and three work in
community organisations.
The Course has been modified for ACT
Health and is designed to build the capacity of
the organisation to respond to health literacy
We gratefully acknowledge the additional
with a focus on cultural and linguistic
funding provided by the Director General, Dr diversity, at both a client and an organisational
Peggy Brown, and Ross O’Donoughue,
level.
Executive Director of the Policy and
The course duration is 8 months, with 4 fullGovernment Relations Branch. Without this
day workshops held bi-monthly. To maximise
support, the course could not have
the learning opportunities at each module,
proceeded.
participants are required to complete
Background
Health literacy is a national health policy
priority and has the potential to improve the
health outcomes across the Australian
population, and particularly for the most
disadvantaged population groups.
preparation tasks prior to each workshop
that establish a foundational understanding of
core concepts.
Following modules 1, 2 and 3, participants
undertake a small project of approximately 40
hours within their work areas. The purpose
There is currently a significant commitment to of the projects is to integrate health literacy
improve health literacy practice across health practice to embed learnings and create
sustainable change. A CEH staff member will
and human services in Australia. However,
the requisite understanding of health literacy support participants by telephone or email
throughout the course and in the
strategies and professional practice are, to
development and implementation of their
date, limited.
projects.
The Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health
Embedding health literacy in the
(CEH) in Victoria has developed the Health
Literacy Development Course to assist health organisation.
and community services to implement health The experience of CEH in delivering the
literacy principles within their organisations.
course is that the participants can assist drive
organisational change, but this can only
The training program is informed by
happen with the support and commitment of
international best practice on health literacy
senior management.
as well as local health sector development,
including CEH’s 20 years’ experience
delivering specialist training for health and
human service organisations.
The course addresses limited health literacy
understanding and practice locally by building
agencies’ capacity to respond to health
literacy at both the client and organisational
levels.
External evaluation has indicated that the
course delivers meaningful outcomes for
Thanks!
Towards the conclusion of the course there is
an additional three-hour Executives and
Participants Forum. At this meeting the
participants will give short presentations on
the projects they have undertaken. CEH
facilitators then guide discussion with
Executives about strategies to embed good
health literacy practice, particularly in relation
to risk management, safety and quality and the
National Safety and Quality Health Service
Standards.
CEH grew out of North Richmond
Community Health Limited, which
provides medical, dentistry, counselling,
cultural and allied health services to the
communities of the City of Yarra.
Since its inception in 1974, North
Richmond Community Health Limited
has constantly tailored its services to
meet the changing needs of a very
culturally diverse location.
Staff at North Richmond soon came to
understand how culture and ethnicity
impact on the way people understand
health and wellbeing, and the way they
access health services.
As a result, North Richmond has
maintained an outstanding reputation
for delivering culturally competent
service.
In 1994, North Richmond received
funding from the Victorian Department
of Human Services to share its learnings
across the state, and the Centre for
Culture, Ethnicity and Health was
formed.
The CEH offers training programs at
North Richmond, across
Victoria and interstate.
For their training calendar, visit their
website. The site also provides access
to a range of useful resources on
cultural competence and diversity.
www.ceh.org.au
The Canberra Hospital Foundation recently provided funding for the purchase of a number of books in a range
of languages other than English. The books are available for patients and visitors through the Canberra Hospital
Auxiliary Library.