Introduction

LGBTQ+ is an acronym standing for lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, and more identities. Many individuals across the world identify with one or more of these groups, and it is important to understand how their identity affects their healthcare. Healthcare should be provided to all no matter what and should be provided to all equally. However, some individuals do face problems in accessing healthcare and in being treated equally. This article examines the challenges individuals who identify as belonging to the LGBTQ+ community face when accessing healthcare. 

Definitions 

To further understand this article here are some key terms and their definitions:

• Lesbian - A person assigned female at birth who is attracted to people assigned female at birth.
  Gay - A person assigned male at birth who is attracted to people assigned male at birth.
  Bisexual - A person who likes both people assigned male at birth and people assigned female at birth. 
• Transgender - A person who identifies as a different gender, not the one they were assigned at birth. For example, an individual may have been born with female anatomy but identifies as male. 
• Transitioning - A person who is in the process of changing gender; this process is different for everybody. 
• Ally -  A straight, cis-gender (non-transgender) individual who actively supports the LGBTQ+ community. 
• Pronouns - For example, she, he, and they.³

LGBTQ+ and mental health

Young adolescents who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community have been found to score higher on the depressive symptomatology scale, demonstrating that they are more likely to experience depression compared to non-LGBTQ+ youth.¹ Depression can affect everybody differently but usually includes the following symptoms:

• Feeling exhausted all the time; they may not want to take part in their hobbies
• Sadness and a low mood that does not go away, activities that usually cause joy no longer do 
• Significant weight gain or loss 
• Inability to concentrate, which may be seen as grades dropping in school.²

Due to the higher risk of LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing mental health problems, healthcare providers should have extra training to provide adequate health care to LGBTQ+ individuals. LGBTQ+ individuals are also found to not only have a higher risk of mental health problems but are also more likely to experience sexually transmitted diseases.¹    

Waiting lists 

One barrier to LGBTQ+ individuals when accessing healthcare is the waiting lists, compared to individuals not in the LGBTQ+ community. According to the 2017 national LGBT survey, 51% of LGBTQ+ individuals reported they had too long of a wait when trying to access mental health services.⁴ 80% of trans respondents had tried to access gender identity clinics; they highlighted their experience of accessing these services was incredibly difficult and there were extremely long waiting times.⁴ 

Longer waiting times prevent healthcare from being provided in a timely manner, and can exacerbate existing mental health problems. Longer waiting lists may occur as some clinics are very specialist, such as gender clinics. Individuals may also have to travel a long distance to get to these clinics, which can impact the times they are available for appointments. 

Transgender care in youth

In the UK children who experience mental health problems are referred to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). This system was found to have failed in treating children who identified as transgender; some children described this experience as lacking in support. Common findings included children being misgendered, and being subject to stereotyping. They were also reporting being called their birth name instead of their chosen name (deadnaming).⁵ It is important to understand that problems in accessing these services as a child is likely to cause a lasting impression and discourage LGBTQ+ individuals from accessing these services in the future. Children were found to avoid booking future appointments, which further delays care and can have negative implications for their mental health. 

Solutions to the problem

Understanding there is a problem is the first step to reaching a solution. Further training can be provided to healthcare workers, to allow individuals to understand the severity of the situation. Training can provide insight into the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community, and healthcare professionals can learn to provide treatment sensitive to the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Active support can also be part of the solution, for example running clinics targeted specifically towards the LGBTQ+ community and providing more support in gender clinics. This could be done by increasing opening hours to tackle the waiting lists, and introducing new healthcare jobs designed for working specifically in gender clinics. 

Summary 

Those who belong to the LGBTQ+ community deserve to have access to reliable and sensitive healthcare. It is unfair for them to be discriminated against for how they identify or their sexual preferences. However, there are barriers they experience when accessing healthcare and more research should be done to understand these barriers. Money and time should be invested in finding and implementing reliable long-term solutions to tackle these barriers so that in the future barriers can be broken.