Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation

Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, established in 1992, is the Regional Aboriginal Controlled Health Service in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. East Arnhem offers a relaxed tropical coastal environment and the opportunity to learn about the Yolngu people and their culture.

Miwatj Health provides health services to Aboriginal communities and homeland areas throughout East Arnhem Land. The localities being serviced are remote areas with small populations. Travel by light aircraft or 4WD vehicles is required to reach some locations.

Miwatj Health takes GP Registrars from across the full range of term experience, preference will be given to advanced trainees and GPT1 intake is limited. Miwatj Health is fully RACGP accredited and had its first GP Registrar in 1995. The GP Registrar will be expected to work in both clinical and public health areas, as part of a multi-disciplinary team with direction from Aboriginal management. This job offers particular training in Aboriginal Health and is an excellent opportunity to learn to work in a truly cross cultural setting.

There are two main training options within Miwatj Health:

1.   Miwatj Health Gove Peninsula: GP Registrars in the Gove Peninsula will be based in the township of Nhulunbuy and rotate in the three (3) clinics Miwatj operates in that area: Nhulunbuy, Yirrkala and Gunyangara (see below).
2.   Miwatj Health Elcho Island: GP Registrars on this stream will spend their term on Elcho Island. Miwatj operates the Ngalkanbuy Health Centre in Galiwin’ku, the main community on the island, serving a population close to 3,000 people.

GP Registrars for both streams interact for regular Grand Rounds meetings that occur monthly in Nhulunbuy.

1. Miwatj Health Gove Peninsula (Full Term Option)

GP Registrars in this stream will spend their Term based in the town of Nhulunbuy. Nhulunbuy is a mining community with a population of circa 3,000 people and excellent facilities and a 30-bed secondary hospital. GP Registrars in this path will rotate across the three (3) clinics Miwatj operates in this area (please see below), generally in set blocks of two (2) months. They also work with outreach teams and public health, community-based programs. GP Registrars in this term are trained in a team supervisor arrangement with a group of five (5) experienced GP Supervisors.

Nhulunbuy Clinic
Miwatj Health (Main Clinic) provides a walk-in acute care service and operates a recall program for longer-term health problems. The client base is diverse, including both residents of Nhulunbuy as well as complex cases from nearby communities. Facilities include a number of rooms for specialist visits. This is an AGPAL-accredited clinic, and a teaching practice for Medical Students of the Northern Territory Clinical School.

Gunyangara Clinic (Ski Beach)
Gunyangara (also known as Ski Beach or Marngarr) is a Yolngu community of about 250 people situated on Drimmie Peninsula, adjacent to Melville Bay, 13km west of Nhulunbuy. It is on Gumatj clan land, with the majority of residents being Gumatj people (family names Yunupingu, Burarrwanga and Munungirritj). Miwatj Health Gunyangara provides a walk-in acute care service, and operates a recall program for longer-term health problems. The clinical services are provided by the Medical Team, which include GPs, Registered Nurses, Aboriginal Health Practitioners and Allied Health Staff. An Administrative Support Team makes up the rest of the team. Where necessary, the clinic provides an outreach service to people’s houses in Gunyangara, and to the Gumatj homeland centre of Dhaniya, depending on population movements. The health centre prides itself on being responsive to the needs of the community, and in turn the community is demonstrably proud of the health centre and its work. This is an AGPAL-accredited clinic.

Yirrkala Health Centre
Yirrkala is a medium-sized Yolngu community of around 1,000 people, situated about 20km from Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula. Originally established as a mission, it is situated on predominantly Rirratjingu clan land (family name Marika) though its residents identify with a number of clans and there is frequent movement of people between Yirrkala and surrounding homeland centres (these homeland centres receive a visiting health service from the Laynhapuy Homelands Association). 

Miwatj took over management of Yirrkala Community Health Centre in July 2012, and is gradually upgrading the services provided through increased staff numbers and implementation of a systems approach to primary healthcare including a greater emphasis on outreach services.

2. Miwatj Health Elcho Island

There will be one (1) GP Registrar placed in this stream. Galiwin’ku is one of the largest Indigenous communities in the NT, with close to 3,000 people living on the Island and 2,500 in the community. GP Registrars in this stream will experience a full placement in an Indigenous community. There are between two (2) and three (3) GP Supervisors on the Island.

Tha Ngalkanbuy Health Centre, the clinic in Galiwin’ku, is the best example of how a large community controlled clinic should operate. Clinical areas are coordinated by a Yolngu Team Leader and several aspects of management and day to day planning are executed by local Aboriginal staff. This large facility has close to 60 staff of which 80% of them are Yolngu.

Ngalkanbuy Health Centre
Ngalkanbuy Health Centre is divided into different program areas and each program engages in acute and preventative care. The Paediatric Program runs a busy acute clinic, an immunization program, cares for children with chronic health conditions and runs specialist paediatric outreach clinics. The Chronic Health Conditions team divides its time between outreach work in the community and clinic appointments. They coordinate and run cardiology, respiratory, endocrinology, liver and physician specialist outreach clinics throughout the year. They work collaboratively with the resident GP to develop comprehensive care plans for clients suffering from chronic health conditions so as to provide optimal care. Each month the team spends two (2) days in the community, going from house to house administering needles for those suffering from Rheumatic Health Disease. They are involved in the screening and treatment of Hepatitis B clients and are involved in a project that is developing Hepatitis B educational DVDs in the local language.

The Women's Program provides antenatal and postnatal care and education. It also provides relevant services for all other women's health issues. It incorporates western and traditional health practices. The 'Strong Women' facilitate monthly smoking ceremonies for new babies and mothers - an important practice in Aboriginal culture. The Adult 'Top Clinic' program runs an acute care service for adults during the day and also a medical emergency service during the daytime. This program also runs adult immunisation programs and sexually-transmitted illness treatment programs. The team works collaboratively with medical staff to complete adult health checks and complete medical recalls.

The Healthy Minds team runs a Strong Mental Health Program, often dealing with difficult situations. This is a busy area with monthly and fortnightly injections for some clients and supervised daily administration of oral medicine for others. This team works collaboratively with families to provide excellent care to individuals suffering from mental illness. A lot of their work is done out in the community (rather than in the clinic) and they respond to acute situations as well as caring for those with chronic mental health conditions.