The health inequalities facing the UKโs LGBT+ community are clear and well-established. With the UKโs Safe To Be Me Conference approaching this summer, can the Government show leadership on the issue and tackle this growing crisis?
It is no secret that the LGBT+ community in the UK face a wide-ranging and well-established plethora of health inequalities. Both in health outcomes and in treatment by healthcare staff, LGBT+ people fare disproportionately worse when accessing health services than the wider population.
With the scrapping of the LGBT+ Action Plan, some activists and onlookers criticised the Government for a perceived lack of leadership on LGBT+ health issues. The LGBT+ Action Plan contained a series of concrete deliverables and metrics on LGBT+ health issues ranging from reducing LGBT+ related suicides, to changing the model of adult gender identity services, and revising surrogacy legislation. However, with the plan now in the rear-view of the Government Equalities Office (GEO), many fear a lack of clear direction on these urgent issues.
The State of the Problem
Over the past two years, the area in which LGBT+ inequalities have perhaps been felt most severely exist around health, mental health, sexual health, and fertility, with existing inequalities only exacerbated by the pandemic. One 2020 report by LGBT Hero found that 79% of LGBT+ people reported that their mental health had been negatively impacted by lockdown, with 61% of LGBT+ people rating their mental health as โpoorโ or โextremely poorโ. Research conducted prior to the pandemic found that 33% of LGBT+ people did not feel that their GP met their needs as an LGBT+ person, a number that rises to 62% for trans people. In some cases, discriminatory treatment from healthcare staff has caused LGBT+ people to disengage with health services entirely. More than one in eight LGBT+ people have reported avoiding treatment due to fear of discrimination. Such statistics paint a picture of an underserved community, facing disparities in treatment and outcomes with little in the way of a clear governmental strategy to address these issues.
Innovation in Service Provision
However, even if there has been little in the way of overarching strategy, the pandemic has brought innovation across the healthcare system to meet emergent and intensified need across the UK. As well as the acceleration of the digitisation of healthcare, the pandemic has forced service providers to adapt quickly, bringing new and promising developments across the UK. For instance, the LGBTQ+ Pop-up Community Centre was developed in response to the isolation felt by many members of the LGBT+ community over the pandemic, providing a space for people to come together. With its links to charities and other organisations that deliver LGBT+ specific services, the centre contrasts many of the traditional โsafe spacesโ of the LGBT+ community, which have generally been drinking venues that may not be suitable for sober members of the community.
A Call to Action
The emergence of new services, policies, and provisions at the local level during the pandemic has been a small bright spot for the LGBT+ community. Their implementation has made real and tangible improvements to the lives of many, and it is these examples of best practice that the upcoming 2022 LGBT+ Commission will be seeking to highlight. In a report set to be published in June 2022, the Commission will take examples of scalable services from local/regional government, civil society groups, and healthcare providers to the Government Equalities Office, focusing not on the problems faced by LGBT+ people, but on the solutions, and how to implement them.
With the UKโs Safe To Be Me conference approaching in late June this year, there is a growing international perception that the UK has slipped from its position as a global leader on LGBT+ issues. That France passed a conversion therapy bill decisively and quickly marks a stark contrast to the months dedicated to consultation in the UK, which have been seen by some onlookers as an attempt to pacify religious groups opposed to the ban. If the UK wishes to reclaim its position, addressing the health inequalities faced by LGBT+ people should be of the utmost priority.
If you wish to submit examples of best practice around LGBT+ specific service provision to the LGBT+ Commission, you can submit survey responses on the following topics:
1. Health, Mental Health, Sexual Health, and Fertility
3. Hate Crime and Domestic Violence
4. Employment, Employability, and Education
If you have any questions about the case study form, please contact our Policy and Research Team at hal.arnoldforster@chamberuk.com