Health action plan for LGBTIQA+ people launched

The first National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ People has been launched by the Federal Government, but questions are being raised about what it really means for patients and healthcare workers on the ground.
 
The 10-year plan outlines the significant health disparities many LGBTIQA+ people face, with more than double the number of LGBTIQA+ people experiencing poor health than the general population.
 
Specifically, its areas of focus include reducing modifiable risk factors and improving preventive health, improving health literacy of, and about, LGBTIQA+ people, enhancing accessibility, availability and safety of healthcare services, and supporting people navigating the health system.
 
It also calls for a boost to the ‘capability and capacity’ of mainstream and LGBTIQA+ led services, building a pipeline of culturally safe and inclusive health and wellbeing workers, and upskill the existing workforce to ensure responsive and safe care.
 
To assist in its rollout, the plan will be accompanied by a $15.5 million Federal Government investment for ‘system-wide improvements’ for access to safe, appropriate and stigma-free healthcare.
 
Much of this investment, $13 million, will go into a grants program intended to build on dedicated services and support initiatives.
 
Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler said too many LGBTIQA+ people ‘continue to experience poorer health and mental health outcomes, alongside discrimination, stigma, isolation, harassment and violence’.
 
He said the Government’s plan would better equip ‘health professionals to deliver safe, respectful and informed support to LGBTIQA+ people’.
 
Dr George Forgan-Smith, a Melbourne GP with a special interest in LGBTIQA+ health, told newsGP that although he welcomes the move as a ‘great start’, the concept at this point is overly generalised.
 
‘It is an acknowledgement forward that is well deserved,’ he said.
 
‘It’s a really great start, but it’s a really bad place if that’s where they’re going to stop.
 
‘If they’re going to do it, they need to get it started, because it’s fine to have ideas but we need actions where the money is at and there’s obvious things that could be very easily addressed.’
 
Dr Forgan-Smith pointed to the lack of action taken during the PrEP shortage earlier this year, as well as a lack of comprehensive vaccination programs for at-risk groups.
 
‘This is nice, and it makes for good election policies but as for an on-the-ground, tangible change, let’s see – but I’m certainly not seeing it,’ he said.
 
Health Equity Matters CEO Dash Heath-Paynte said the National Action Plan provides a ‘roadmap that addresses the systemic barriers our communities face in accessing healthcare’.
 
‘This plan’s emphasis on data collection and evaluation will be crucial in ensuring we can measure progress and adjust our approach as needed,’ he said.
 
But what does this plan mean for GPs?
 
Dr Forgan-Smith believes it should be a caveat for general practice to take this seriously.
 
‘Being friendly isn’t enough, we need competent, trained doctors, and at the moment, outside of issues around HIV, there really isn’t many at all,’ he said.
 
‘We’ve got to get more involvement at the ground level, and this is where primary care is probably the best place to start.’
 
He said that many people in the LGBTIQA+ community have episodic care with multiple doctors.
 
‘If people don’t feel safe to go to or they haven’t been able to find a doctor, then they’re never going to get that continuity of care,’ he said.
 
‘It’s really hard to find good quality general practice that has an understanding of the LGBTIQA+ community and, more often than not, I have to refer them to the sexual health services.
 
‘I am still, to this day, training other GPs how to take a sexual health history on the LGBTIQA+ community, how to address people respectfully using their correct pronouns.’
 
GPs also need to keep in mind that LGBTIQA+ people need just as individualised healthcare as any other patient, Dr Forgan-Smith emphasised.
 
‘LGBTIQA+ people have diverse healthcare needs, but they also have the same healthcare needs as other people,’ he said.
 
‘The most important thing is we need people to feel safe, to be able to come and see their GP and know that they can let their guard down and tell the truth.’
 
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