Sydney Hospital CEO Reveals He Felt ‘Uncomfortable’ As A Gay Patient
NSW government and ACON on Wednesday announced that it was setting up the first state-funded health care centre for the LGBTQI community. Schembri said that he felt “uncomfortable” as a gay patient. Schembri was speaking at the launch of the LGBTQI Health Strategy at Kinghorn Cancer Centre at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, Sydney.Earlier this year in January, he was diagnosed with “a rare and random life changing illness” and spent eight weeks “in and out of hospitals across the public and private systems”. Schembri said he had come out at the age of 14 and had lived and worked for over 25 years in clinical, managerial and chief executive roles in the New South Wales health system.“I thought I knew our public and private systems well. What I wasn’t prepared for was the number of times as a patient, I was asked if my wife was coming to pick me up after a procedure or whether my partner – pronoun, ‘she or her’ – was joining the consultation,” said Schembri, who rejoined work last week. The historic NSW LGBTIQ+ Health Strategy 2022-2027 is built on the voices, experiences and insights of over 1,600 LGBTIQ+ people across the State and more than 750 NSW Health staff.