Pride in Practice works to improve the experiences of LGBTQ+ people accessing primary care services
Join hundreds of practices committed to equality and excellence in LGBTQ+ healthcare.
Pride in Practice is LGBT Foundation’s award-winning programme that works with primary care services to ensure LGBTQ+ people receive inclusive, high-quality healthcare. Endorsed by the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, it helps practices create welcoming environments and tackle health inequalities.
LGBTQ+ people often face barriers to healthcare, leading to poorer outcomes. Pride in Practice helps break down these barriers, ensuring everyone feels respected and understood when accessing care. We provide expert training for GPs, dentists, pharmacies, and optometrists on LGBTQ+ inclusion, language, and health needs. From posters to action plans, we offer practical tools to help embed inclusive practices.
Pride in Practice has worked with over 1000 primary care services across the UK, presenting over 650 Bronze, Silver, or Gold Pride in Practice accredited awards, recognising excellence in LGBTQ+ healthcare.
Pride in Practice includes:
– Ongoing support from a dedicated Account Manager
– LGBTQ+ inclusion training
– An assessment leading to a co-produced action plan
– An accredited award recognising a service’s commitment to LGBTQ+ excellence in healthcare
Benefits for Patients
- Improved confidence and trust in healthcare services.
- Early engagement with healthcare services leading to better health outcomes.
- Safer, more supportive environments for both patients and staff.
Benefits for Your Practice
- Strengthens staff morale and retention by fostering an inclusive workplace culture.
- Enhances your reputation as an inclusive, progressive healthcare provider.
- Supports compliance with Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards and equality legislation.
- Boosts patient satisfaction and loyalty, increasing positive reviews and word-of-mouth referrals.
“The more I discuss my sexual orientation the more I realise it is helpful not just to me, but to the health professional too.”
New to the Pride in Practice Group
Pride in Practice – Care Award
Pride in Practice – Fertility
LGBT Foundation’s Pride in Care tackles the challenges LGBTQ+ residents face in care settings and the lack of LGBTQ+ training in adult social care.
The programme offers training on LGBTQ+ older adults’ histories and needs, practical steps for affirming care, and guidance on creating welcoming environments with inclusive policies and signage.
Pride in Practice – Fertility helps fertility services create an inclusive experience for LGBTQ+ patients from the very first interaction.
Through tailored training, we explore the barriers LGBTQ+ people often face when accessing fertility care and provide practical solutions to overcome them. Your team will gain the knowledge and confidence to deliver affirming support, address specific health needs, and embed inclusive policies and language, making every patient feels respected and understood.
Information for patients and service users
Pride in Practice is LGBT Foundation’s nationally recognised programme to make healthcare more inclusive for LGBTQ+ people. It ensures you receive care where you feel safe, respected, and understood. Pride in Practice helps break down barriers to healthcare by training staff, improving policies, and creating visibly welcoming environments.
“I’ve received good care as a transgender woman from the GP practice, without feeling patronised”
What Support Can You Expect from somewhere that has had Pride in Practice Training?
- Practices accredited by Pride in Practice have undergone training to understand LGBTQ+ health needs and provide affirming care.
- A Safe Environment. Look for inclusive signage and policies that show the practice is committed to equality.
- Better Communication from staff trained to use inclusive language and avoid assumptions about gender, sexuality, or relationships.
- An overall better experience. Patients at Pride in Practice-accredited surgeries are more likely to feel their needs are met and less likely to experience discrimination
How We Can Help You
- Find an Accredited Service: Use our Pride in Practice map to locate practices we’ve worked with.
- Raise Concerns: With your permission, we can contact a practice to help improve its treatment of LGBTQ+ patients. This includea practice’s already trained by us.
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Bronze: Practice manager has attended a training session
– The practice has sexual orientation monitoring and trans status monitoring on registration forms, and uses demographic monitoring to better understand patient needs
– The practice has a process for manual cancer screening recall for patients who have changed gender marker
– The practice team is aware of standard process for shared care agreements for gender-affirming care & how to reach out to a GIS for further information if needed
– The practice is able to provide HIV tests or signpost to other services
– The practice is able to offer clerical support and relevant documents for LGBTQ+ patients looking to change their name, gender marker (18+) or legal identification
– The practice’s Zero Tolerance policy implicitly protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination
– The practice has a designated LGBTQ+ lead or champion
Silver: 50% of practice staff have attended a training session
– The practice has evidence of how feedback from LGBTQ+ patients or PiP process has been used to develop services
– Practice staff have demonstrated understanding of specific barriers LGBTQ+ patients face when accessing healthcare services
– Practice team are able to signpost to further support, including online and local groups or helplines
– The practice’s Zero Tolerance policy includes specific reference to LGBTQ+ discrimination
Gold: 80% of practice staff have attended a training session
– This practice is able to follow shared care protocol for gender-affirming care
– This practice has evidence that existing patients have been given the opportunity to update their sexual orientation or trans status
– This practice is actively promoting HIV awareness
– This practice is working to promote inclusion at other practices and networks
- Signposting & Resources: We provide information and guidance to help you navigate healthcare confidently.
Our Patient Experience Survey
Since 2014, LGBT Foundation has carried out a series of surveys analysing the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people (LGBTQ+) accessing primary healthcare.
Our most recent survey, launched in June 2022, received 335 valid responses from members of our communities and has added an extra level of insight and detail to experiences collected in previous years.
