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GPs in a Pod
Episode 34: Refugee Health - with Amale Hussein (Settlement Services International)
Episode 34 | 17th June 2025 | 30 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Amale Hussein, a Refugee Health Nurse with Settlement Services International (SSI).
Based in Goodna, Amale supports referred new arrival individuals and families in the Ipswich region to navigate the healthcare system.
Amale speaks to the barriers that refugees face in healthcare, including cultural and language differences, and distrust of healthcare professionals due to prior experiences.
With a refugee background herself, Amale also shares her journey to becoming a Refugee Health Nurse after arriving in Australia from Somalia with her family at the age of seven in 1998.
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Episode 40: MyMedicare and Chronic Condition Management - with Chris Smeed (Cubiko)
Episode 40 | 12th August 2025 | 26 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Cubiko CEO Chris Smeed. They discuss the Chronic Condition Management changes that came into effect from 1 July 2025.
Resources
Cubiko: Resources to prepare for Chronic Condition Management
Episode 39: Parkinson's disease - with Michelle Stafford and Arianne Valerio (Metro South Health)
Episode 39 | 29th July 2025 | 23 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Arianne Valerio, a neurologist with Metro South Health, and Michelle Stafford, formerly with Parkinson's Queensland.
More than 44,000 Queenslanders are living with Parkinson's disease - a number that continues to rise as our population ages.
They discuss diagnosis and motor symptoms, red flags, demographics and trends, referrals, management, and more.
Resources
Parkinson's Queensland: Education & Training for Health Professionals
Episode 38: Eating disorders - with Amara Brennan and Dr Nishanth Jayarajan (West Moreton Health)
Episode 38 | 15th July 2025 | 31 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha and Dr Jo speak with Amara Brennan and Dr Nishanth Jayarajan from the West Moreton Health Eating Disorder Speciality Service. The service provides assessment, treatment, education, and secondary consultation for patients affected by eating disorders.
Resources
Episode 37: Rural medical education – with Dr Robert Heffernan
Episode 37 | 1st July 2025 | 19 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Robert Heffernan.
Dr Heffernan is a GP and practice owner in Toowoomba, GP Career Guide, and the Clinical Lead for Griffith’s LongLook Program, which sees fourth year medical students undergo placements in rural placements across the Darling Downs.
They discuss medical education and placements, student-patient relationships, and the benefits and challenges of medical student mentorship.
Resources
General Practice Supervision Australia
Episode 36: Refugee Health Part 3 - with Dr Rachel Claydon (Mater Health)
Episode 36 | 19th June 2025 | 29 mins
To end our Refugee Week series, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Rachel Claydon. Clinically, Dr Claydon practices as a GP at the Mater’s Asylum Seeker GP Clinic working with people seeking asylum who have lodged an application for protection visa, but don’t yet have Medicare.
Non-clinically, Dr Claydon is a GP SMO and Chair of the Queensland Clinical Advisory Group with the Refugee Health Network of Queensland, a statewide network that supports the provision of quality care to those with a refugee background.
Dr Tanusha and Dr Claydon discuss the various Mater Refugee and Multicultural Health Service clinics, the nuances of treating patients with a refugee background, trauma recovery, catch-up immunisation, and more.
Resources
Mater: Refugee and Multicultural Health
Refugee Health Network Queensland
Mater: Multicultural Health Coordination Program
Refugee Health Network Queensland: Clinical Guidelines
Refugee Health Network Queensland: Resources for Clinicians
Australian Government – Department of Home Affairs: How to make a FOI request
Episode 35: Refugee Health Part 2 - with Elizabeth Laverty (Multicultural Australia)
Episode 35 | 17th June 2025 | 23 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Elizabeth Laverty, who is a Refugee Health Officer with Multicultural Australia, the leading humanitarian settlement provider in Queensland.
Based in Toowoomba and Springfield, Multicultural Australia provides new arrivals with settlement services, such as housing, and access to education programs, training and employment assistance in the regions.
Toowoomba is home to the largest community of Yazidi refugees outside of Europe, with over 6,000.
Resources
Multicultural Australia – Services
Queensland Program of Assistance to Survivors of Torture and Trauma
Episode 34: Refugee Health - with Amale Hussein (Settlement Services International)
Episode 34 | 17th June 2025 | 30 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Amale Hussein, a Refugee Health Nurse with Settlement Services International (SSI).
Based in Goodna, Amale supports referred new arrival individuals and families in the Ipswich region to navigate the healthcare system.
Amale speaks to the barriers that refugees face in healthcare, including cultural and language differences, and distrust of healthcare professionals due to prior experiences.
With a refugee background herself, Amale also shares her journey to becoming a Refugee Health Nurse after arriving in Australia from Somalia with her family at the age of seven in 1998.
Resources
Episode 33: Bowel Cancer Screening - with Sophia Parker (West Moreton Health)
Episode 33 | 3rd June 2025 | 29 mins
To kick off Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Tanusha was joined by Sophia Parker, who is a Health Promotion Officer for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program with West Moreton Health.
Sophia discusses the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, the free home test kits, the lowered eligible age for bowel screening, and more.
Resources
The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program is free for people aged 45-74 years, who hold a current Medicare or DVA card. It is best suited to people who do not have any signs, symptoms, or a family history of bowel cancer. The program aims to reduce deaths from bowel cancer by detecting early signs of the disease using a faecal occult blood test (or iFOBT).
Home Test Demo kits are available, for free, from the National Bowel for GPs to show patients the contents of the kit.
In a recent study, published in the Lancet, March, 2025, the Faecal Immunochemical test-based screening program was found to be non-inferior to a colonoscopy-based program for colorectal cancer-related mortality.
Healthcare providers can now bulk order and issue bowel screening kits directly to their eligible patients through the alternative access to kits model. This is in addition to the existing mail out model.
Either the patient, or their GP on their behalf can ‘Request a free bowel test kit’ to be sent to their Medicare registered home address by completing the online form.
Key contacts
West Moreton Health and Darling Downs Health are offering lunchtime education sessions to GP practices in the region.
This includes information about the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and a step-by-step guide on how to implement the Alternative Access to kits model to enable GPs to issue Home Test Kits directly to their patients.
Certificate of attendance will be provided if GPs want to use this to self -report CPD hours for the session.
West Moreton: WMCancerScreeningHPO@health.qld.gov.au
Darling Downs: Claire.condon@health.qld.gov.au
Episode 32: Queensland Virtual Early Medical Termination of Pregnancy Service (QVEMToPS) - with Dr Claire Fotheringham (Queensland Health)
Episode 32 | 20th May 2025 | 22 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Claire Fotheringham, who is a Senior Medical Officer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with Queensland Health.
QVEMToPS is a statewide virtual service delivered by the Queensland Virtual Hospital. It provides eligible women and pregnant people across Queensland with access to an early medical termination of pregnancy up to 9 weeks (63 days) gestation.
Visit the QVEMToPS site to refer a patient or to check eligibility.
Episode 31: Syphilis - with Dr Candice Holland and Paula Hale (Metro North Health)
Episode 31 | 6th May 2025 | 27 mins
In this episode, Dr Tanusha speaks with Dr Candice Holland and Paula Hale, who are members of Metro North Health's Sexual Health team.
They discuss the services of the first Nurse Navigator for Sexual Health, based within the Queensland Syphilis Surveillance Service (QSSS).
Located at the Metro North Public Health Unit, but responsible for southern Queensland, the QSSS enables accurate monitoring of syphilis infections and contributes to the clinical management of people infected with syphilis by providing support for the clinicians who treat them.
Resources
Queensland Clinical Guidelines - Syphilis and pregnancy
Queensland Syphilis Action Plan 2023 – 2028 Overview
For further information or to seek support, advice, or referrals to the Nurse Navigator, primary care professionals are encouraged to contact the QSSS on 1800 032 238 or email QLD-Syphilis-Surveillance-Service@health.qld.gov.au.
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