Liverpool City Council has said it is trying to "better understand" the LGBTQ+ community’s experience and the health inequalities they face.
Working alongside Liverpool’s oldest LGBTQ+ charity, Sahir House, the council and a range of partners are undertaking a health needs assessment - it will be the city’s first one dedicated to local LGBTQ+ people. It comes after national evidence showed LGBTQ+ people face inequalities relating to health and well-being throughout their lives – including barriers to accessing healthcare services.
A Stonewall survey from 2018 found half of LGBTQ+ people had experienced depression in the previous year, and a quarter of people had witnessed discrimination by healthcare staff. The survey will incorporate information from a range of sources, including national-level evidence and data from the 2021 census.
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Cabinet member for equality, diversity and inclusion, councillor Pam Thomas said: “We’ve launched at the end of LGBTQ+ history month to remind everyone of the discrimination and inequalities LGBTQ+ people faced under Section 28 legislation. Every February, as part of a month-long celebration, the UK marks the abolition of the laws that prohibited the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities and schools.
“The Liverpool City Council plan for 2022-2025 sets out the city’s commitment to equality and inclusion. Through this survey and a series of listening sessions recommended to us by the Navajo Merseyside Charter Mark, the council will be supported in achieving these aims.”
The key findings from the survey will be used to design focus groups and explore the key issues identified in more depth. It will also support Liverpool’s commitment to the UNICEF Child-Friendly City Programme and champion the needs of LGBTQ+ children.
Director of public health for Liverpool, Professor Matthew Ashton, added: “Research has shown that LGBTQ+ communities have a greater risk of poor mental and physical health and that there is a lack of adequate knowledge and support for them within the healthcare system.
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“Through this health needs assessment, we will better understand how well we engage and provide for this population and gain crucial insight into their experiences of services and the barriers they face in accessing good health care.”
All of the information gathered will be used to make recommendations for the council, partners and stakeholders in order to improve services across the city.
Sahir House CEO, Ant Hopkinson, said: “The focus here is to ensure that nobody within our LGBTQ+ community faces any discrimination or stigma when accessing services and that we place equity and reducing inequalities at the heart of the partnership work on this agenda.
“The more people who come forward to complete our survey, the more chance we have of ensuring fully inclusive offers across the city. Sahir House will also assist with the next phase of detailed engagement, which will incorporate focus groups and interviews with our LGBTQ+ community to authentically engage and understand how we can remove some of the barriers they face”.
The survey is open until Monday, April 3 and LGBTQ+ people aged 16 and over are encouraged to take part online.
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