The state is also putting money toward a specialist health service for transgender children and young people.
The NSW government has committed more than $4 million toward establishing a health centre, which will provide tailored medical services to Sydney’s LGBTQ+ community.
The funding announcement is part of NSW Health’s five-year LGBTQ+ health strategy, which also saw the state dedicate $3.4 million annually for a specialist trans and gender diverse public health service.
A further $2.65 million went toward NSW Health workforce education and training initiatives to support the strategy.
Operated by LGBTQ+ non-profit ACON, the health centre will also offer state-wide services through telehealth, service partnerships and shared care arrangements.
ACON Deputy CEO Karen Price – who, it should be noted, is a fully separate person from RACGP President Dr Karen Price – said that the health centre is similar in concept to an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Centre.
“In other areas, we know that specific services really work well to meet the needs of specific populations,” Ms Price said.
“Things like Aboriginal medical services, women’s health services and refugee and migrant health services have been around for a long time.”
Great to meet Dr Karen Price, President of @RACGP at the Inaugural National Telehealth Summit. Good to talk about some new work from @ACONhealth. Integrated care fundamental to improving health outcomes of #LGBTQ people. @NSWHealth @SydneyLHD @SVHSydney @CESPHN #healthcare pic.twitter.com/mjNjQmqDST
— Karen P (@kp_karenprice) April 20, 2021
ACON’s vision for the centre is to create a hub for LGBTQ+ health, and that includes hiring staff with lived experience or specific expertise.
“We’d like to be able to see a member of our community walk in the door into a facility that strikes them straightaway as somewhat somewhere that’s been built for them,” Ms Price said.
“A warm and welcoming environment where they are more than likely greeted by a peer, someone else from their community.
“All the staff hopefully will have a lived experience or have expertise, so [we are looking for people who are] not just LGBT-friendly, but an LGBT expert.”
Services will cover a range of disciplines, including gender-affirming healthcare, mental health, sexual health, drug and alcohol counselling and specific types of cancer treatment and screening.
Men who have sex with men, for instance, have a far higher rate of anal cancer compared to the general population.
Essentially, the aim is to create an “ecosystem” of LGBTQ+ health workers, ensuring that patients feel confident and safe when accessing care.
“My vision of this health centre is that a person walks in, they see the GP and the referral to the next [health care professional] they need to see is in the same building,” Ms Price said.
“They don’t have to navigate different parts of the health sector or system, and because the person that they’re most likely going to be referred to is in the centre, they can be confident that it is someone with the relevant expertise that they need.”
Ms Price said ACON has an “ambitious” timeline of opening the centre as early as March 2023, but that realistically the project may take around 18 months.
