Read Minister Butler's media release
New South Wales
Swift Street Medical Centre, Antenatal Clinic, Wellington
Swift Street Medical Centre is a dedicated antenatal clinic providing much needed care to the residents of Wellington in regional NSW including First Nations mothers, so that they can receive care close to home and on Country. The enthusiastic multidisciplinary team including 2 GPs, a midwife, and a nurse work collaboratively with the local hospital, Aboriginal Health service and PHN to provide full access to local health services.
Street Side Medics, Sydney and Wollongong
Staffed by a dedicated a group of volunteer medical professionals, Street Side Medics provide easy access to free health care services to vulnerable individuals across Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne. Their network of highly equipped vans means they can reach those who would otherwise have little or no access to traditional health care. The team is recognised for its innovative approach to reaching the homeless and vulnerable, meeting patients on their terms and collaborating with charities, shelters, and other services.
Dr Dong Hua, Practice Principal & Director, Kenyon Street Medical Centre, Fairfield
Dr Hua provides accessible and culturally appropriate GP care to his highly diverse community in Sydney. He played an important role during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to contribute to surveillance and treatment efforts. He has created a multidisciplinary care of nurses, GPs, podiatrists, psychologists, and physiotherapists to help address chronic disease within the community.
Selin Tekirdag, Practice Nurse Manager, Fairfield Chase Medical and Dental Centre, Sydney
Ms Tekirdag is passionate about ensuring health care is available to everyone. She works with culturally diverse communities in Fairfield, in Sydney’s west and supports 28 medical centres across NSW and the ACT as a Chronic Disease Management Nurse Manager. Among her achievements is the establishment of a nurse-led women's health clinic that provides a safe space for women and delivers education and resources to promote mammogram testing, cervical screening, STI protection and contraception. Ms Tekirdag also trains other nurses in chronic disease management, advocating for multidisciplinary care and sharing best practice with staff in regional and remote areas.
Victoria
Cabrini Asylum Seeker & Refugee Health Hub, Northcote, Melbourne
The Cabrini Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub provides free or bulk billed quality care to a highly vulnerable population across Melbourne’s north. The dedicated team of GPs and nurses undertake detailed health assessments of their patients and develop comprehensive care plans. They also work closely with legal, family violence, housing, food, sport and recreation services to fully support the needs of their patients. This team makes an extraordinary difference to the health and lives of their community.
Dr Mohammed Alebrahimi, CEO & Optometrist, People First Healthcare, Roxburgh Park
Dr Alebrahimi is dedicated to ensuring all people have equal access to health care, particularly members of the migrant community. The drop-in-centre he established in Melbourne’s north provides a broad range of health services, including optometry, radiology and speech pathology. Today, the centre provides wraparound care to all patients through free access to health care and other support services.
Dr Lester Mascarenhas, General Practitioner, Utopia Refugee Health, Hoppers Crossing
Dr Mascarenhas founded Utopia Refugee and Asylum Seeker Health in Melbourne. The clinic provides access to GPs, visiting specialists, nurses, on-site interpreters and community outreach to patients with complex and often unmet needs. Before its opening, Dr Mascarenhas spent a year consulting with the community to ensure the clinic provided the services they required and to gain their ongoing support.
GROW Clinical Psychology, Roxburgh Park
GROW Clinical Psychology delivers culturally sensitive, bulk billed mental health services to a vulnerable multicultural community in Melbourne’s north-west. As part of its commitment to accessibility, intake and consent forms are translated into the first languages of their community, and treatment is offered in multiple languages. GROW promotes the importance of mental health and works to reduce the stigma of mental health challenges, with a focus on community outreach.
Queensland
Inala Primary Care, Inala
Inala Primary Care delivers critical services to some of Queensland’s most disadvantaged patients with complex health needs. The practice is recognised for its innovation and commitment to serving a diverse and vulnerable community. Its innovative models of care have been replicated across Queensland and nationally. The team continues to explore ways to provide better value and more comprehensive care that meets the needs of patients, providers, partners and funders.
Western Australia
Laura Stewart, Pharmacist & Proprietor, Pharmacy 777, Karratha
Mrs Laura Stewart is a pharmacist from the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia who supports her rural community through the provision of high-quality community pharmacy services. As well as her three pharmacies, Mrs Stewart has established a pharmacy outreach service for local Aboriginal Health Service. She has also expanded services to better meet the needs of the fly-in-fly-out mining workforce and allied industries. Having mentored more than 150 students, Mrs Stewart supports the recruitment and retention of strong rural health teams for the future.
Dr Lorraine Anderson, Medical Director, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Limited, Broome
Dr Anderson provides a holistic approach to the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people and their communities. She is a leader who works closely with many Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services to ensure high standards of care and continuous improvement. Dr Anderson has played an important role in health policy at all levels of government.
Pramana Medical Centre, Gosnells
The multidisciplinary team at Pramana Medical Centre provide wraparound support to more than 6,000 patients, 60 per cent who are First Nations people, and the remaining from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, are homeless, or people with disability. The dedicated team work together with an emphasis on addressing the social determinants of their patients' healthcare in parallel with their medical needs.
Medical Respite Centre Team, Perth WA
Homeless Healthcare’s Medical Respite Centre is the first of its kind in Australia, providing health and social services to those experiencing homelessness or without suitable conditions to manage their health. It gives patients somewhere safe to recover, prevents hospital admissions and supports patients with a full scope of health services.
The success of the service, which opened as a pilot in 2021, is a testament to the team’s resilience and commitment to the people it supports.
South Australia
Mallee Border Health Centre, Pinnaroo
Mallee Border Health is a nurse practitioner-led multidisciplinary primary health care centre, caring for thousands of regional patients including veterans, migrants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. The team is recognised for its innovative model that has improved health care in a region that has long struggled to retain GPs and other primary health services.
Tasmania
Kerrie Duggan, Nurse Practitioner & Practice Co-Owner, Cygnet Family Practice, Cygnet
Ms Duggan is a Nurse Practitioner who stepped in as a co-owner to save the Cygnet Family Practice when the previous owner made the decision to close. Over the past decade, she has worked to build the service into a thriving, multidiscipline general practice supporting around 2000 people in the local community, who might otherwise have been without health care. She has implemented an innovative system of new patient registration with nurses to provide a comprehensive and holistic approach to health promotion, disease prevention and chronic disease management.
Mission Health, Launceston
Mission Health in Launceston provides free, drop-in, nurse-led health care to people experiencing and at risk of homelessness. The dedicated staff and volunteers work closely to build trust with their patients to further understand their needs as well as managing any health concerns. They are also committed to breaking down the barriers to health care that many of their patients experience.
Dr Miranda Hann, General Practitioner, Ochre Health, Hobart
Dr Hann has worked to break down barriers and ensure equal access to health care for diverse and vulnerable communities, particularly the LGBTQIA+ community in Hobart. As well as offering safe, trauma-informed care to her patients, she has worked to support other healthcare professionals to deliver multidisciplinary community-driven care. By providing a safe referrals list, and information and support on gender affirming care, she has made a significant positive impact on the LGBTQIA+ community in Tasmania.
Australian Capital Territory
Next Practice Canberra, Deakin
The multidisciplinary team at Next Practice Canberra uses an innovative model of ‘integrated practice units’ to support their patients’ needs, with a focus on people living in residential aged care, people with disability and those with palliative care needs. The team work together to provide individualised and coordinated care to patients both onsite and virtually through enhanced telehealth appointments.
Dr Andrew Palfreman, General Practitioner & Director, Watson General Practice, Watson
Dr Palfreman is committed to providing patient-centred and innovative care to deliver better health for his patients. He uses innovative technologies, including AI, to reduced administration time and make more time available for longer and urgent consultations with his patients. Dr Palfreman works with Canberra’s 'Chat to PAT' bus service which offers free health care to vulnerable and homeless Canberrans.
Northern Territory
Midwifery Group Practice, Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital, Top End Health Service, Darwin
The Midwifery group practice, Top End Health Service, has made an extraordinary difference to the lives of many women and their families living in the Top End, particularly in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Their impact on primary health care is far reaching, with an innovative model that integrates midwifery care with broader health services, setting families up for success and giving babies the best start in life.