Nearly three quarters of LGBT patients do not think they will be provided with sensitive care at the end of their life, a report by Marie Curie has found.
The report, Hiding who I am: Exposing the reality of end of life care for LGBT people, states that this leads them to delay or not seek treatment due to the anticipation of discrimination from healthcare staff.
‘Despite progress made in improving care and tackling prejudice, it’s tragic that people are dying alone without the person most dear to them and unheard by the very people who should be providing them with support at the end of their lives,’ said Amanda Cheesley, professional lead for long-term conditions and end of life care at the RCN. ‘People from the LGBT community should not be having to cope with the distress of dying or bereavement whilst worrying about their care.’
The report identified a worrying level of discrimination present in the NHS workforce, despite major gains being made. According to Marie Curie, 24% of patient-facing staff have heard colleagues making negative remarks about lesbian, gay and bisexual people, using terms like ‘poof’ or ‘dyke’, while 20% had heard disparaging remarks about trans people. A further 10% had witnessed a colleague advocating the belief that someone can be cured of being lesbian, gay or bisexual.
‘All of those involved in delivering care at the end of life must now work together to ensure that the distressing situations described in this report are firmly in the past,’ added Ms Cheesley.
The report states that NHS staff should be provided with training to ensure they understand the complexities involved with caring for LGBT patients at the end of their lives. Other recommendations in the report include a drive to explore issues relating to LGBT communities and access to palliative care when considering national implementation strategies. It also states that nurses and other healthcare professionals should work with local LGBT groups to understand more about end of life care needs.
‘While it’s true that everyone should receive the best care, more training is needed to ensure that person centred care for LGBT people is not lost when we talk about treating everyone equally,’ said Dee Sissons, director of nursing at Marie Curie.
‘We have seen some good examples in practice from our staff, including consideration of different family dynamics and arranging separate visiting rotas for patients whose birth family weren’t accepting of their partner. We need to universally improve the experience for LGBT people at end of life. We only have one chance to get this right.’