Accurate Data Essential To Improve Health Care For Queer Communities
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Reviews into clinical quality registries (CQR) have been called to expand submissions to include LGBTQI individuals, which could provide a better understanding of the health and well-being of Queer communities.
LGBTIQ+ Health Australia (LHA) in recent submissions to The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care review, has requested that CQR align their methods with the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020 Standard to improve data collections on queer health care in Australia.
The ABS 2020 Standard provided options for gender and sexual orientations to be accounted for. LHA says such changes to the CQR standards would finally “recognise LGBTIQ+ populations as a priority consumer group to help drive appropriate population data.”
Changing Definitions
The possible changes could include current definitions of sex and gender, and changing selections within the CQR to include options to specify an individual’s sexual and gender orientation. This would provide more accurate data sets for LGBTIQ+ demographics, which could influence health reforms amongst governments and healthcare providers.
James Zanotto, the Director of Policy, Research and Communications for LHA, says including LGBTIQ+ insights will help understand community needs. “LGBTIQ+ people have poorer health outcomes than the broader community… (and) are less likely to access health services due to experiences of stigma and discrimination,” he explains.
Such changes would address discrepancies between CQR data sets and various strategies nationwide, as LGBTIQ+ people are already considered a ‘priority population’ amongst many Government strategies and plans.
“Without the consistent collection of this data, it is not possible to reliably gather data on LGBTIQ+ populations or patients to assess the quality of diagnoses or interventions,” says Zanotto.
The commission is currently reviewing submissions regarding CQR’s Second Edition, before being presented and finalised.
