LGBT Switchboard’s Health and Inclusion Project is holding a consultation to find out about the factors important to the LGBTQ+ community in sharing monitoring information about sexual orientation, gender identity and trans status with GPs and council services.
Make your voice heard and join us for the focus group on Tuesday 13th February, 6-8pm at Community Base, Queens Road, Brighton.
Participants will receive £10 as a ‘thank you!’, refreshments will be provided and travel costs can be reimbursed.
Please RSVP by emailing [email protected] or call 01273 234009.
The venue is wheelchair accessible with all-gender bathrooms available.
Anyone aged 18+ who identifies as LGBTQ+ and lives, works, or socialises in Brighton & Hove is welcome to attend.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Why monitoring?
Put simply, “If we’re not counted, we don’t count!”
Effective equalities monitoring is key to making sure services really work for LGBTQ+ people.
At present, this information isn’t collected in a consistent way and because of this services aren’t well-equipped with the information they need to tailor their services to LGBTQ+ communities.
And because we know that LGBTQ+ people suffer a range of health inequalities as compared with straight people, it’s particularly important for health services to understand who their patients and users are, so they can plan their services and train their staff accordingly.
Why now?
Important changes are being made to how monitoring data for LGBTQ+ people will be collected by GPs and other crucial services, and here at LGBT Switchboard, we want to make sure that LGBTQ+ people’s voices are heard in this process.
In October, NHS England released guidelines for how GP surgeries and other health and social care services should collect equalities monitoring data about sexual orientation. However, there’s much more to effective monitoring than the questions themselves, so we want to hear from LGBTQ+ people about the factors that are important to you in making you feel safe, comfortable and confident sharing this information with the services you rely on.
What’s more, these guidelines don’t yet cover gender identity or trans status. We want to hear how you would like to be asked about this too.
To find out more or RSVP to our focus groups email [email protected] or call 01273 234009.