Improving quality and safety of cancer care for people from ethnic minority backgrounds: what do consumers want?

Objectives: People from ethnic minority backgrounds have increased likelihood of poor care quality and outcomes than the general population when accessing cancer care. Consumer-centric solutions are required to address these inequities. We explored the views of people from ethnic minority backgrounds on key issues impacting their cancer care and outcomes, including strategies to enhance care. 

Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect experiential data from people from diverse backgrounds who had accessed cancer care. All recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim, and one was included with notes only. Thematic analysis was conducted, with initial coding by two researchers and themes further developed by all authors. 

Results: Interviews were conducted with 19 consumers, including six patients and 13 support persons who had accessed cancer care from hospitals in NSW and Victoria, Australia. Participants were from diverse cultural backgrounds including Vietnamese, Chinese, Iraqi and Filipino, and nine interviews were conducted with language support. Consumers indicated that cancer services need to develop flexible care systems to improve care, expressed through three themes: (i) considering language and culture, (ii) establishing communication and (iii) accommodating difference. 

Conclusion: Current practices leave people from ethnic minority backgrounds more vulnerable to compromises in quality and safety of care. Involving people from ethnic minority communities relevant to the local area in service design and evaluation is essential to inform practice change. Further consideration is required to address resourcing issues and provide governance support to enable care that is flexible and equipped to respond to varied language and cultural support needs.