Pride in paramedicine: care of LGBTQ+ people

Awareness of the healthcare disparities experienced by marginalised communities is encouragingly on the rise in recent years. Whether as a result of a person's socioeconomic status or their race, issues are being identified with access to healthcare, increased health risk and discriminatory treatment. However, as we celebrate Pride month around the world, it seems fitting to note that very little conversation takes place around the health and healthcare of people belonging to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, queer or questioning and other sexual identities (LGBTQ+).

It is known that LGBTQ+ people experience disproportionately poorer care and health outcomes (NHS, 2021) including worse cardiovascular health (Caceres et al, 2020) and factors which may result in higher vulnerability to COVID-19 (LGBT Foundation, 2020). Unfortunately, many aspects of health receive little attention in LGBTQ+ populations compared with topics such as HIV and substance use (Caceres et al, 2020). However, evidence shows that adults within these communities have worse cardiovascular health relative to cisgender heterosexual people (Caceres et al, 2020).