Prescription for change: Lesbian and bisexual women's health check.

Abstract

Introduction Lesbian and gay taxpayers fund 60,000 posts within the NHS.Yet with the marked exception of gay men's sexual health, their specific health needs are almost invisible.Stonewall's engagement with tens of thousands of lesbian and bisexual women across Britain in recent years suggests that their healthcare is particularly neglected.That's why we commissioned this groundbreaking national survey.We've been overwhelmed by the response.Over six thousand women have told us about their health needs and experiences, making this the biggest survey of lesbian health ever conducted outside the US.The picture they paint should disturb any healthcare practitioner.Lesbians are more likely to have smoked and to drink heavily than women in general.At various ages they are less likely to have had a smear test and more likely to have had breast cancer.Levels of self harm and suicide are significantly higher than in the wider population.Half have had negative experience of healthcare within the last year alone and a similar number feel unable to be open about their sexual orientation to their GP.Many healthcare providers have taken marked steps forward as good employers since employment protections for lesbian and gay people were first introduced in 2003.But this major survey suggests that this progress has not fed into the services they provide.This study is timely.In April 2007, it became unlawful to discriminate against lesbian and bisexual women in the delivery of public services.It's clear that the NHS now needs to take some very significant steps forward to meet its new statutory obligations.

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