TEWV Response to Healthwatch Darlington LGBT+ Experiences of Health Services Report

Healthwatch Darlington approached Arcus, a counselling and social support service, primarily developed for LGBT+ people, and agreed a set of questions for our survey which would provide a snapshot of experiences of health and care services in Darlington.

78 people took part in the survey which was supported by Arcus helping to distribute both online and hard copies in the community.

The experiences of those completing our survey indicate that there is not a consistent healthcare service offering to those who identify within the LGBT+ community. The experiences of those who took part in our survey reveal that it depends upon healthcare professionals encountered whether the experience is positive or negative.

Training and education of healthcare professionals was identified as important in providing more empathic practices and encouraging those who need support to go to the healthcare professionals who can help them.

We also asked about specific areas: HIV testing and maternity services.

There was a consensus that whilst progress had been made with HIV awareness, there was more that could be done in terms of education that would encourage those who needed to be tested to attend testing.

There was support for maternity services to be made more accessible with the use of inclusive language, helping those who need maternity care to feel supported and understood at this important time in their lives.

We will continue to work with Arcus and those in our community who often feel they are not listened to or understood, to raise awareness within the healthcare community and improve service offerings for all who need them.

Response from Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust

We recently received the Healthwatch Darlington LGBT+ Report February 2022 you produced and found it very interesting and extremely helpful.

We felt quite encouraged by the recommendations that you identified as we were already working towards two out the three areas raised and we have incorporated the third in the training we provide, please see an explanation below:

• Healthcare providers to consider their training programmes with healthcare professionals and promote inclusivity training on a regular basis: We have been providing regular training sessions on working with LGBTQ+ service users and staff which we co- produced with our Rainbow staff network. We have encouraged staff to ask about demographics more and highlighted the benefits to patients of being asked these questions.
• Promote greater awareness of HIV testing campaign within Darlington Borough:Since receiving your report we have included this point in the LGBTQ+ training to raise awareness.
• Plan and implement changes to the maternity services to ensure the use of more inclusive language to those within the LGBT+ community who use their services:Where appropriate in our policies and procedures and perinatal mental health – operational policy we have introduced inclusive language and used a lot of the language that has been referenced in your report and have consulted with our Rainbow staff network on the changes to language.

Thank you again for generating this report.

Abigail Holder, Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Officer, People and Culture Directorate, Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust