Integrative healthcare business, The New Clinic, has launched a division aimed at supporting patients who are “slipping through the cracks” and often deemed too complex for regular medical care.
We Care Beyond is led by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, including nurse practitioners, peer support workers, trauma-informed therapists and addiction specialists.
The concept was developed in response to the growing need for trauma-informed, non-judgemental, whole-person care, particularly for patients who often fall between gaps in existing systems.
It will support people with co-occurring conditions such as mental health, substance abuse, chronic health and past trauma issues, with an aim of capturing patients who have faced stigma or been excluded from standard medicinal care pathways.
Medicinal cannabis will potentially form part of treatment plans, where appropriate.
We Care Beyond head Nomusa Napier, a veteran of prison health and regional drug services, said the division aimed to improve access for patients who were missing out on alternative treatment.
“We champion a model that blends clinical excellence with emotional support, providing access to specialist clinicians in a safe, respectful and compassionate environment,” she said.
“We’ve had patients refused care because they disclosed a mental health diagnosis, or were already prescribed medications exceeding a recommended maximum. Others have been cut off with no support because they didn’t fit a clinic or the GP’s criteria.
“Some are on methadone and get blocked from accessing alternative therapies altogether – so they’re forced to seek alternative means to access their medicine, or go online or bounce between prescribers. That’s not care – that’s rejection.”
Napier said the scale of the problem became clear during her years working in prison and community health, after relocating from New Zealand to regional Victoria in 2010.
“I saw people with mental health issues and substance use stuck in cycles of reoffending because the system didn’t support dual diagnosis,” she said.
“I’d have patients on opioid replacement therapy who wanted to try other options, but I couldn’t prescribe them. Suddenly they’re seeing a doctor via telehealth and trying to coordinate everything themselves. It creates more hardship.”
We Care Beyond takes a holistic, dual-diagnosis approach and works in partnership with patients’ existing providers, including GPs, psychiatrists and allied health professionals.
“It’s not a 10-minute consult and a script,” Napier said.
“We coordinate with the patient’s other clinicians, we build a care plan, and we focus on reducing harm – especially where care has been abruptly withdrawn.”
The New Clinic chief medical officer Dr Dev Banerjee echoed the sentiment.
“We’re not here to replace existing care – we’re here to strengthen it,” he said.
“Our team works seamlessly with GPs, psychologists, allied health professionals, psychiatrists, and community providers.”
We Care Beyond is supported by Ask Sam, Oz Medicann Group’s innovative deep-tech generative AI clinical and patient virtual assistant. While The New Clinic is owned by Oz Medicann Group it operates as an independently-run business unit.
“As part of their care, We Care Beyond patients have access to Ask Sam’s patient medical assistant, providing instant access to their medications, prescriptions, medical history, appointments, and clinical team,” Dr Banerjee said.
“Ask Sam’s clinical virtual assistant allows me to spend more time with my patients, enabling me to deliver truly personalised, informed and responsive care,” Napier added.
We Care Beyond is now operating in Bendigo and Sydney, with other locations due to open shortly.
Both in-person and telehealth consultations are available.
Contact no*****@**************om.au or Dr Banerjee (dr****@**************om.au) for more information.