Pride in Practice - Supporting GPs to achieve better health outcomes for lesbian, gay and bisexual patients

Pride in Practice is a service provided by The Lesbian & Gay Foundation to GP practices to support improvements in health outcomes for their lesbian, bisexual and gay (LGB) patients, as well as strengthen their engagement with and understanding of the LGB community.It publically celebrates GP practices that are delivering inclusive services and supports them to further develop their services through advice, support, resources and training through a practices account manager. Public celebration of inclusive services helps break down ‘perceived’ homophobia and biphobia within health services. Research has found that 20% of LGB people said that they sexual orientation was a factor in avoiding visiting a GP over the last 12 months (Richardson, Jo. 2010). Furthermore research found that almost a quarter of LGB people were not ‘out’ to any health professional (NHS Wirral, 2012).