audio by title 'report of the inclusive services workstream'

The Department of Health’s Equalities and Human Rights group organises an annual conference for stakeholders interested in the work of its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Advisory Group (SOGIAG). Over the course of a full day’s proceedings each of the various work stream chairs normally present details of what their team has been working on during the year. Senior civil servants also discuss their work and inclusion aims too.

Christine Trethowan, who chairs the inclusive services workstream is a manager working for the NHS in Coventry. She explained that the object of her group was to focus on the people who use services and to eliminate the discrimination they encounter and went on to describe how her team’s work had focussed mainly on two areas in the last year - making staff more aware of LGBT needs (and their obligations to address those) and making service users more aware of their rights and the standards they should expect.