LGBTQ+ community helps improve health and social care in North Yorkshire during Pride Month

Members of the LGBTQ+ community are helping drive improvements to health and social care services after sharing their experiences with Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

More than 200 people worked with the charity, which is the independent champion for people using health and social care services in the county, to highlight the issues they can face when accessing care.

Now those responsible for commissioning and delivering services are working to make things better – with staff training a key area highlighted by those who took part in Healthwatch North Yorkshire’s research.

In the new report LGBTQ+ People’s Experience of Using Health and Social Care Services in North Yorkshire – released during Pride Month – the number of personal stories shared demonstrate that barriers to access and instances of discrimination throughout the patient journey are representative of a wider problem. However, it was also highlighted that professionals using inclusive language, showing empathy and having knowledge of LGBTQ+-specific mental health issues can result in positive experiences for people accessing services.