Information from: North Midlands LGBT+ Older People’s Group
Tackling Health Inequalities | Gathering LGBT+ peoples experiences of health and social care services
North Midlands LGBT+ Older Peoples Group
The North Midlands LGBT+ Older Peoples Group are one of the recipients of our Tackling Health Inequalities Grants which we launched in 2024. Here’s what they’ve been up to with their project so far…
As part of their grants project, the North Midlands LGBT+ Older Peoples Group are conducting a series of short surveys, speaker sessions and health-themed newsletters to gather information that may help to improve LGBT+ access and outcomes in local services.
The motivation behind this project comes from evidence which shows that LGBT+ people continue to experience health inequalities, as they stated themselves: “National evidence tells us that LGBT+ people experience health inequalities in many aspects of their lives including their experience of accessing health, social care and other publicly funded services”, which you can read more about in this report.
Further to this, they added that:
“Being older can add to the difficulties – attitudes and laws have changed for the better but older LGBT+ people have a long personal history of lived experiences that may include discrimination, rejection, social isolation, and negative reactions from family, friends and colleagues.”
The aim of this project overall is to raise awareness and understanding of challenges faced by LGBT+ people within health and social care services, and to inform better practices through the gathering of lived experiences and thoughts, to help tackle inequalities and ensure local health and social care services are fully accessible and inclusive.
So far, they have hosted a series of guest speaker sessions, with themes including ‘improving services for LGBT+ people’ with Citizens Advice and Victims Gateway, and ‘Cancer Screening’ with representatives from UHNM.
Alongside this they have been busy sharing health information and raising awareness of health inequalities faced by the LGBT+ community through their newsletter circulations, which are sent out to their LGBT+ members, supporters, and partner organisations.
These themes have included the ‘If We’re Not Counted We Don’t Count’ Guide on the importance of including LGBT+ people in monitoring and evaluation, tackling loneliness, understanding what health inequalities means to LGBT+ people, and how and why LGBT+ people are affected.
As well as sharing lots of important information, they have been actively pursuing the research side of their project. In early 2025 they conducted a short survey to gather feedback on the experience and thoughts of older LGBT+ people on Adult Social Care Services. 23 people responded, with many responses highlighting the importance of respect and understanding.
When asked “’if you had a magic wand to change things, what would adult social care support be like for you and other members of the LGBT+ community?”, responses included…
- “Staff who understand the specific challenges that the diverse community face”
- “A service that is person-centred”
- “Respectful, person centred, LGBT+ aware”
More surveys will be undertaken in the coming months, with a full report of findings to be released later in the year. In the meantime, you can find out more about the North Midlands LGBT+ Older Peoples Group, below.