Pride Month – June 2024

June is Pride Month, a month dedicated to celebrating LGBTQ+ communities across the world.

Previous figures from the LGBT Foundation’s Hidden Figures: LGBT Health Inequalities in the UK report show:

• 52% of LGBT people reported experiencing depression in the previous year. This includes 67% of trans people and 70% of non-binary people.
• 45% of trans young people (aged 11-19) and 22% of LGB young people have tried to take their own life. Among the general population the NHS estimates this figure to be 13% for girls and 5% for boys aged 16-24.
• 93% of LGBT specialists and service users consider that more work needs to be done to improve end of life services for LGBT people.
• 40% of trans people who had accessed or tried to access public healthcare services reported having experienced at least one negative experience because of their gender identity in the previous 12 months.
• 23% of LGBT people have at one time witnessed anti-LGBT remarks by healthcare staff.

In 2018 the UK government published an LGBT Action Plan, aiming to ensure that “LGBT people’s needs are at the heart of the National Health Service.” However, an article featured in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2021, following the Covid pandemic, highlighted that inequalities still existed.

What are your experiences of health and social care? Please get in touch.

Healthwatch Surrey champions the voice of local people to shape, improve and get the best from NHS, health and social care services. We seek out people’s experiences of these services, particularly those voices who are seldom heard, who might be at risk of health inequalities, and whose needs are not met by current services. As an independent statutory body, we have the power to make sure decision makers listen to your feedback.