Working to embed stigma-free care in all health systems
In 2026, the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards are under review — a rare opportunity to shape what safe and high-quality health care will look like in Australia for the next decade. The Australian Alliance for Inclusive Healthcare Standards (AAFIHCS) has been established to make sure stigma is not left out.
About the Alliance
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Our mission is to embed action on stigma within Australia’s national health care standards. By bringing together voices from across the community, health, policy and research sectors, the Alliance aims to support coordinated advocacy during the review of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards and help ensure stigma-free care becomes an expectation across the health system.
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Stigma remains a significant barrier to safe, equitable and effective health care. It can shape whether people feel safe seeking care, how they are treated when they do, and the outcomes they experience.
Despite strong evidence about the impact of stigma on health care quality and access, stigma reduction has not been explicitly embedded within Australia’s national health care standards.
Embedding action on stigma within these standards would help make respectful, inclusive care a core expectation across the health system
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The Alliance provides a coordination point for individuals and organisations who want to advocate for stigma-free health care.
We will:
Share information about the consultation process for the NSQHS review
Provide resources that support advocacy and submissions
Share strategies and insights across sectors
Connect people and organisations working toward the same goal
The Alliance supports collective advocacy while recognising that individuals and organisations may take their own approaches and positions.
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Individuals and organisations can:
Sign up for updates
Attend Alliance meetings or briefings
Share strategies and resources
Use Alliance materials in their own submissions
Support other organisations contributing to the consultation
Share information across their networks
Participation in the Alliance does not limit organisations from taking their own action or position.
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The Alliance will share updates, resources and opportunities for action through the Tackling Stigma website, the Alliance LinkedIn page, and online briefings during the consultation period.
Resources developed through the Alliance will be publicly available to support participation in the consultation process.
Launch webinar recording
This webinar introduces the Australian Alliance for Inclusive Health Care Standards and the effort to embed action on stigma within these national benchmarks.
The 60-minute session covers:
Why stigma matters for safety and quality in health care
The opportunity presented by the upcoming NSQHS review
The aims of the Alliance and how it will support coordinated advocacy
Ways individuals and organisations can get involved and contribute to the consultation process
Australia’s national health care standards define what safe and high-quality care should look like, yet they currently do not explicitly address stigma — despite clear evidence that stigma can undermine patient safety, access to care and health outcomes.
Statement of principles
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Stigma in health care is not solely an interpersonal issue; it is a systemic risk factor that can lead to measurable harm.
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Stigma occurs when individuals or groups are excluded, judged, or treated differently because of inherent characteristics or health conditions. It can be embedded in laws, policies, clinical practices, organisational culture, language, and service design.
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Stigma contributes to delayed care, avoidance of services, non-disclosure of relevant information, reduced adherence to treatment, and poorer health outcomes.
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Where stigma affects clinical interactions, it compromises informed consent, shared decision-making, and patient safety.
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Health care that involves stigma cannot be considered high-quality care. Safety and quality are diminished when patients do not feel safe to speak openly, seek care early, or participate fully in decisions.
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The impacts of stigma are not incidental. They are predictable, preventable and measurable.
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Evidence demonstrates that stigma disproportionately affects particular groups, including people living with chronic illness, disability, mental illness, those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and others experiencing structural disadvantage. This creates inequities in access and outcomes.
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Reducing stigma requires action at multiple levels, including clinical practice, workforce education, organisational governance, policy settings, and regulatory standards.
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Stigma reduction should be embedded within safety and quality systems, not treated as a separarate or optional initiative.
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Australia’s National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards should explicitly recognise stigma as a safety and quality risk and incorporate actions to prevent and address it.
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Safety and quality frameworks should include mechanisms to monitor, measure and continuously improve performance in reducing stigma-related harms.
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People with lived experience of stigma must be partners in the design implementation and evaluation of stigma reduction strategies within health services.
Our founders
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Scientia Professor Carla Treloar
Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney
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Professor Kate Seear
Deakin Law School and Deakin University Centre for Law as Protection
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Dr Sean Mulcahy
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society
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Dr Elizabeth Deveny
Consumers Health Forum of Australia