The LGBTQIA+ community faces unique challenges when accessing healthcare, so a new e-learning programme has been designed to educate all NHS staff and improve their experiences both as part of the workforce and as patients.

The e-learning has been commissioned and created by Health Education England’s LGBTQIA+ Staff Network, working in conjunction with the Diversity, Inclusion and Participation Team and other NHS and external organisations who identified this gap in learning opportunities for wider NHS colleagues.

All colleagues can access it on ESR - see the image which shows how to do this.

It is targeted at the health and social care workforce and aims to build a greater understanding of the challenges and barriers that the LGBTQIA+ community face when accessing health and care services, and how support can be improved to positively impact patient care and experience.

This session is now live on the Learning Hub and will also be available on ESR. We hope as many NHS staff as possible can access and complete it and we plan to add more modules in the future. We hope this will be an important step towards highlighting and addressing health inequalities, increasing allyship within the NHS and improving the lived experiences of all LGBTQIA+ people who access and work in health and care.

Here is a link to the programme page and an animation created to support the programme: https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/lgbtqia-awareness/