Health and social care experiences of the LGBTQ+ community 2022
Download (PDF 1.26 MB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Derby wanted to understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ people accessing and using health care services. They undertook a survey to which 105 people responded.
Almost all considered themselves to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and a further 4% as allies. The majority of these individuals live comfortably ‘out’, with this varying in different scenarios between a high of 87% of respondents living ‘out’ with their friends to 60% living ‘out’ in their workplace and 53% living ‘out’ with their healthcare team.
When asked where they seek support when they feel ill, the most commonly noted responses were GP/practice nurse, friend or family members, internet search and NHS111. The services that respondents had most used in the past two years were their GP surgery, pharmacy and Covid-19 vaccination.
The services that respondents felt most unable to access were GP Surgery, Mental Health services, Hospital services (planned admissions, outpatient and urgent/emergency) and Sexual Health services.
A quarter had tried to access or wish to access Gender Reassignment services and 11% have already successfully accessed. Many respondents left comments around accessing Gender Reassignment services which were mostly negative, and the most mentioned themes were long waiting times for the Gender Identity Clinic (GIC), poor support from their GP when asked for help, medication or to refer to GIC, and poor or lack of communication from the GIC whilst waiting for an initial appointment.
Nearly a third felt that their identity was not respected and understood by healthcare professionals. Over three in ten stated that their identity was brought up when seeking support for an unrelated health issue. Over two in five felt that their identity has been a barrier to accessing a health and social care service.
Three quarters would report a hate crime and over two in five would seek health support following a hate crime. Over a third have experienced a poor or discriminatory healthcare experience based on their identity.
The most mentioned themes around poor experiences were deadnaming, incorrect usage of pronouns/titles, poor Trans healthcare, inappropriate comments around sex/marriage (Gay Man), inappropriate comments around sex/pregnancy (Gay Woman) and asking about genitalia during an appointment for an unrelated issue.
Over two in five respondents left comments about exceptional service and the most commonly mentioned themes were staff performance, general overall service and accurate and sensitive use of terminology for surgery, treatments, names and pronouns.
Nearly three in five respondents left suggestions on what could be improved and the most commonly mentioned themes were staff awareness and knowledge of LGBTQ+ issues, staff attitudes and behaviour around making assumptions or allowing their own personal bias to affect a patient’s treatment, and access and waiting times for Gender Identity Clinics.