AN initiative has been launched to ensure care homes in a North East town are meeting the needs of the LGBT community.

Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd is calling on service providers to share their experiences of addressing residents concerns.

The move follows a recent report by LGBT campaign group Stonewall which indicated that nearly half of lesbian, gay or bisexual people would feel uncomfortable telling health and social care staff about their sexual orientation.

Middlesbrough Mayor Dave Budd said: “It is vital that our care homes provide an inclusive environment for all residents, LGBT people included.

“However, we lack a body of evidence around the experiences of LGBT people living in our care homes in Middlesbrough, and therefore want to hear from those with direct experience.

“It would be also useful to hear what information is available in individual home, what training staff receive and what monitoring is in place.

“We appreciate that older generations may be less open about issues of sexuality, making these issues difficult to identify – however, recent research into this topic from Stonewall, Age UK, The Alzheimer’s Society and various universities demonstrates this is an important issue.”

Joanne Fairless, Operations Manager at LGBT support charity Hart Gables, said: “We know there can be issues with residential care never mind for those who are LGBT, so it’s important that we empower people to talk and share information like this.

“As people get older, they start to worry about how they will be looked after and whether they will be able to share a care home with their partner.

“If we are to make sure the services available fully reflect the society we live in, initiatives like this have an important role to play.”

Michelle Dawson, programme manager at Ageing Better Middlesbrough, added: “We are really supportive of this initiative and hope that it means positive changes can be made for people from the LGBT community living in residential care.

“As people get older sexuality can become a taboo and this is even more so with people from the LGBT community, with the assumption usually being that older people are heterosexual.”

  • Anyone who would like to contribute to the review of LGBT awareness and support can email contractandcommissioningunit@middlesbrough.gov.uk