Vickie Peters, Safe Harbour Project Manager explains how St Helena is committed in supporting the LGBTQ+ community with compassion and dignity.

Our Safe Harbour service was set up to serve people who have not traditionally accessed hospice services, including the LGBTQ+ community.  Safe Harbour carried out a community consultation to understand why this is, and this has informed our EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) working group to implement change.  So far, we have done the following things to address concerns of the LGBTQ+ community and ensure that each patient can feel confident that they will be cared for with dignity and compassion: 

A safe space

We were sad to learn that most LGBTQ+ people have experienced discrimination. This means we cannot expect to be trusted without being intentional to create emotional safety in the way we offer care.  We know that it is important, not just to be inclusive, but communicate this message clearly to alleviate concerns.  We do this in several ways from respectful communication, posting clear statements in reception areas and providing gender neutral toilet facilities.  

Knowledgeable staff  

We know the importance of training our staff to be knowledgeable about sexuality and gender related issues.  We have previously provided awareness training through the Outhouse for our patient facing staff and are currently working with GIRES (Gender Identity Research Education Society) to run comprehensive training in end-of-life care for transgender and non-binary people.  This will equip transgender champions across our organisation with knowledge from protecting legal rights to providing personal care to support patients to maintain their gender identity.    

Personalised care  

We know that it's not enough to be welcoming, but we must also be prepared to meet the individual needs of our patients, which includes gender and sexuality related needs. In the past this has included providing specialist counselling for gender related issues and affirming spiritual care.