Published on: 5 April 2022

The NHS Rainbow Badge was first launched in 2018 at Evelina London Children’s Hospital and adopted at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) in 2020 for NHS staff to show that they are aware of the issues LGBT people can face when accessing their healthcare requirements.

NHS England have now commissioned Phase 2 of the NHS Rainbow Badge Scheme, led by a collaboration consisting of the LGBT Foundation, Stonewall, the LGBT Consortium, Brighton and Hove Switchboard and GLAAD.

ELHT is proud to have been selected as one of 40 NHS Trusts across the country to take part in this programme.  Trusts taking part in the process will receive a graded award reflecting their current LGBT inclusion work and can achieve a Bronze, Silver or Gold award.  A comprehensive feedback report and action plan will also be provided to help the Trust improve and achieve the next level through meaningful change.

As part of the assessment process, ELHT has now launched our staff and service user surveys.  You do not have to identify as LGBTQ+ to respond and all responses are anonymous.  The surveys close on 18 June 2022.  The survey will take a few minutes to complete and will help the Trust to build a picture on how inclusive we are.

Kate Quinn, Operational Director of HR and OD said “This is a real opportunity for the Trust to show our commitment and support to delivering safe, personal and effective care for all of local population and demonstrate the progress we are making to reducing barriers to healthcare for LGBTQ people.

“The Trust is committed to being an inclusive environment for our service users, their relatives, carers, visitors and for our current and future staff.  I would encourage everyone to take a moment to complete the survey and help improve awareness and reduce barriers to healthcare.”

Martyn Pugh, Chair of the LGBTQ+ Staff Network said “The Rainbow Badge accreditation scheme is a chance for the Trust to demonstrate our commitment to improving inclusivity and the action plan and feedback from the process will help establish our aims and ambitions for the coming years.”

You can complete the survey by clicking here.

You can also complete the survey in Bengali, Chinese, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu.