Humanitarian Entrant Health Service

The Humanitarian Entrant Health Service (HEHS) provides a holistic health assessment service for all refugees and humanitarian entrants who are resettled in Western Australia (WA) under the Commonwealth Government’s Humanitarian Program and Special Humanitarian Program.

People from refugee backgrounds may have health issues not identified or addressed by pre-migration health checks which may not be adequately addressed by Australian mainstream health services due to linguistic, cultural and financial barriers.

The model of care at HEHS is a nurse-led health assessment followed by review and creation of a management plan by a General Practitioner. The appointments are supported by the use of trained interpreters. Treatments for simple conditions are undertaken at HEHS and complex cases are referred to relevant specialist services within the public hospital and NGO sectors.

Assessments, pathology collection, radiology and pharmacy requirements are all provided by HEHS free of charge. Each client’s immunisation status is assessed and a vaccination catch up program is commenced. All clients receive a copy of their immunisation record.

The activities of HEHS are overseen by the WA Refugee Health Advisory Group.

For more information visit the Western Australia Department of Health Humanitarian Entrant Health Service (external site) webpage.