The Outstanding Diversity Forum are marching towards equality

For the first time, the cross-sector organisation that supports adult social care is taking part in this year’s London Pride.

After this years LGBTQ+ history month’s theme was Medicine – #UnderTheScope –the Outstanding Society have announced that the Outstanding Diversity Forum (OSDF) will be marching at London Pride 2024.

Established in 2021, the Outstanding Society have claimed they want to continue raising awareness for all of the exceptional work LGBTQ+ people contribute to the health sector, and to ensure health and social care providers across England become more inclusive in terms of staff members and treatment.

Sanjay Dhrona, director of the Outstanding Society, said: ‘I know the sector is challenged by the complexities around understanding, celebrating, and facilitating diversity in their teams and for their residents. As we come up to pride month – LGBTQ+ issues will be at the forefront of many people’s minds and if you aren’t from the Rainbow Family sometimes, understanding the challenges an LGBTQ+ person can face in your service or setting can be tough.

‘The work of OSDF, the first ever cross sector LGBTQ+ network, will be to create a home for best practice around diversity, equality, and inclusion and share this through The Outstanding Society. Our first pride is an opportunity to identify those stakeholders in the sector who are aligned with our mission and vision, and we hope to be the vanguard of progress for our teams and residents.’

In addition to the recent theme of this year’s LGBTQ+ history month, which took place in February, a report which was published in 2019 also prompted OSDF to take part in this year’s Pride.

Published in 2019, the Women and Equalities Committee was appointed by the House of Commons to examine the state of healthcare in this country.

In the opening pages, the report stated: ‘We have found that too few health and social care providers are actively thinking about LGBT people when they plan their services and that senior leaders are not doing enough to ensure that LGBT-inclusion is hardwired into commissioning strategies.

‘This problem filters all the way down to training, where medics of the future are not taught how to provide LGBT-inclusive treatment. While few people set out to discriminate, training currently sends the message that sexual orientation and gender identity are not relevant to providing ‘person-centred care’.

‘We have heard that for many witnesses that it is, in fact, essential. At the moment, there seems to be neither the leadership necessary to ensure services are designed to be LGBT-inclusive nor swift enough improvements among staff on the ground.’

Whilst announcing that OSDF will be at pride, the Outstanding Society also detailed where tickets can be found in case people wish to get involved with the movement. Although tickets aren’t live just yet, an Eventbrite page has been set up so people can register their interest.

This year, the annual parade and pride celebration in London is due to take place on 29^th June.

Images: The Outstanding Society and daniel james

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