Multiculture Health Project

About the practice

• Jacaranda Medical Centre is a general medical practice located in Kingston, Queensland, providing family and primary healthcare services.

• The practice offers a range of GP and primary healthcare services, including General family medicine, Chronic disease management, Women's health and antenatal care, Men's health, Mental health support, Vaccinations and preventative care, Care plans and Onsite pathology services (4Cyte Pathology).

What inspired the practice to complete this QI activity?

Jacaranda Medical Centre strengthened the accuracy and completeness of patient ethnicity and demographic data recording working with Brisbane South PHN quality improvement team. During this transition, the practice identified gaps in patient demographic information, particularly ethnicity data. Given the diversity of the patient population, the practice recognised the importance of accurately recording ethnicity and demographic information to better understand and meet the needs of its community.

The practice set a quality improvement goal of achieving 80% ethnicity recording across its active patient population between January and June 2026. This target was successfully exceeded, with the recording rate reaching 81.05% in May 2026.

The challenge

The practice serves a culturally diverse population, including people of Australian, New Zealand, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Samoan and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. Prior to the quality improvement activity, ethnicity data was not consistently recorded within patient records.

Key challenges included:

• Incomplete demographic information in patient records.

• Language barriers for some patients.

• Reluctance from some patients to identify their ethnicity.

• Ensuring staff were confident and consistent in collecting sensitive demographic information.

With approximately 4,500 active patients and only two GPs, the practice needed an efficient and sustainable approach to improve data collection.

What we did

The practice adopted a whole-team approach involving Principal General Practitioner, Practice Manager and all reception staff. 

Key actions included: 

• Providing staff training to ensure demographic information was collected.

• Developing a patient demographic update form for completion on arrival.

• Asking every patient to review and update their demographic details when attending the practice.

• Collecting ethnicity and demographic information as part of everyday patient care.

• Encouraging patients to take the completed form into their consultation, allowing clinicians to update records where required. 

This systematic approach ensured every patient interaction became an opportunity to improve data quality. Practice Principal, Dr Bhatti said “Accurately recording patients' ethnicity is essential for delivering equitable, culturally appropriate healthcare.

It helps us better understand the needs of our patient population, identify health disparities, and ensure patients have access to the most appropriate services and support”. It also improves the quality of our data, enabling better planning and more informed healthcare decisions.

Results and impact

The quality improvement activity was highly successful

Achievements included: 

• Achieved 81.05% ethnicity recording, surpassing the practice goal of 80%.

• Significant improvement in the completeness of patient demographic records.

• Increased staff awareness of the importance of demographic data collection.

• Improved understanding of the practice's diverse patient population.

• Establishment of a consistent process for collecting and updating patient information. 

The project also demonstrated that simple workflow changes can lead to substantial improvements in data quality without creating a significant burden for staff or patients. Dr Bhatti reported “the support provided by the Quality Improvement Coordinator was invaluable.

The guidance, practical advice, and regular follow-up helped keep the project on track and made the process straightforward for our team.

The expertise enabled us to implement effective changes, improve the accuracy of our records, and achieve meaningful quality improvement outcomes”.

What will the practice do to ensure this becomes business as usual 

• Continue providing demographic update forms to new and existing patients.

• Maintain ethnicity and demographic checks as part of routine reception processes.

• Ensure new staff receive training on demographic data collection procedures.

• Run a monthly clinical software report to identify patients with missing ethnicity or demographic data and update records where appropriate.

• Reception staff routinely ask patients to confirm their personal and ethnicity information when they check in.

Embedding these processes into everyday workflows will help ensure data remains accurate and complete over time.

What can other practices do to participate?

• Making demographic updates part of every patient visit.

• Engaging the whole practice team, including reception staff and clinicians.

• Providing patients with simple, easy-to-complete update forms.

• Offering staff training on collecting sensitive information respectfully and confidently.

• Monitoring progress through regular data audits and setting achievable targets.

• Addressing barriers such as language difficulties through clear communication and supportive resources.

Key Message

Small, practical workflow changes can have a significant impact on data quality. By involving the entire practice team and making demographic data collection part of routine care, practices can achieve substantial improvements in patient information recording and better understand the communities they serve.

If you are interested in receiving support from one of our quality improvement coordinators, please contact us at [email protected] for more information.