Meeting the health and social care needs of LGBT+ people
Intended for healthcare professionals
CPD    

Meeting the health and social care needs of LGBT+ people

Ben Heyworth Macmillan Survivorship Network manager, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, freelance consultant in LGBT and smoking cessation and LGBT and cancer, and director, Arts for Health, Milton Keynes, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To be aware of the challenges that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender + (LGBT+) people often experience in relation to health and social care

  • To consider what steps you could take in your practice to enhance the care of LGBT+ people

  • To contribute towards revalidation as part of your 35 hours of CPD (UK readers)

  • To contribute towards your professional development and local registration renewal requirements (non-UK readers)

Rapid sociocultural shifts in understanding and acceptance of variations in sexual orientation and gender identity have occurred in recent decades, and UK health and social care providers have a legal obligation to address inclusion, discrimination and equality in policies and services. Despite this, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender + (LGBT+) people continue to report inadequate health outcomes and suboptimal experiences of care. This article considers the health ecology in relation to those who identify as LGBT+ and outlines the concept of intersectionality. The author discusses some of the issues experienced by LGBT+ people in relation to various physical and mental health conditions and services. The article aims to encourage nurses to consider what steps they can take to improve care for this group.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12032

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@thismorningcall

Correspondence

benjamin.heyworth@nhs.net

Conflict of interest

None declared

Heyworth B (2023) Meeting the health and social care needs of LGBT+ people. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12032

Published online: 03 January 2023

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