Too often medical professionals focus on sexual health rather than broader health needs and differences when supporting LGBT people.
This is according to the October 2019 report (pdf) from the Women and Equalities Committee on the disparities in health and social care experienced by LGBT people.
The report recommends:
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission should significantly increase the volume, transparency and publicity of its enforcement work by making much greater use of its unique enforcement powers, publicising that work and reducing its reliance on individual complainants.
- In line with ethnicity monitoring, sexual orientation monitoring should be made mandatory across all NHS and state social care providers within the next 12 months. Any service provider who does not implement it should face fines at a level equivalent to those imposed for not monitoring ethnicity
- Public Health England should work with the National LGBT Partnership to prepare a five-year plan of LGBT-specific campaigns. The plan should include measurable performance indicators on disparities such as smoking and alcohol abuse and should be reviewed annually.
