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Health Inequalities Surveys

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The North Midlands LGBT Older Peoples Group is a partner of the Community Health Champions initiative co-ordinated by VAST.  In 2025 we received grant funding to help tackle local health inequalities. 

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. Being older can add to the difficulties experienced – 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. Some people have lived large parts of their lives without feeling able to tell anyone that they are LGBT+. This impacts on how older LGBT+ people present themselves and their anxieties about accessing public services. Compared to the general population LGBT+ people have significantly poorer mental health, higher rates of alcohol and substance misuse, and a higher probability of suffering complex long-term conditions

There is ample research evidence that demonstrates the broad impact of health inequalities experienced by LGBT+ people including:

We used our health inequalities grant funding to support our social meetings with speakers on health related issues. We also conducted three online surveys to gather feedback from our members to better understand their experiences of local services and how they could be improved to tackle LGBT+ Health Inequalities. 

Thank you to everyone who took part in our surveys, we will share the results with partner organisations to help improve local services for all LGBT+ people.

Our Three Surveys

Let’s Make It Better – Adult Social Care

Conducted March 2025, there were 23 respondents.

Main themes

  • Need for services to be visibly supportive of diverse LGBT+  identities
  • Availability of appropriate services and support

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Adult Social Care

Let’s Make It Better – Mental Health

Conducted May 2025, there were 30 respondents.

Main themes

  • A need to boost awareness in local mental health services of the disproportionately high number of LGBT+ people with mental health issues
  • Local mental health services to consider LGBT+ issues and their competence to deal with them. Do staff and/or volunteers require further training to understand and respond appropriately?
  • A need to boost confidence that local mental health services can meet the needs of LGBT+ people. What can services do to reach out to LGBT+ people and boost their confidence in the services available?

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Mental Health

Let’s Make It Better – Hospitals and Primary Care

Conducted June 2025, there were 18 respondents.

Main themes

  • GP practices to consider joining the national “Pride in Practice” scheme? (See here for details – LGBT Foundation Pride in Practice)
  • The need to improve visibility of LGBT+ friendly materials in GP practices and other health services.
  • Consideration of staff training and the actual sensitivity of staff to diverse LGBT+ people in practice. As one respondent said “It’s not all about flags and pronouns”.

Download summary report – Let’s Make It Better – Hospitals and Primary Care

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