Dr Lorraine McDonagh
University College London
Understanding how to improve equitable access to primary care for marginalised populations in the UK: A collaborative approach with trans and gender diverse communities and key stakeholders
Background
In the UK, when people need healthcare, they do so via primary care. Often groups and communities who are excluded from mainstream society struggle to access primary care. Here, “access” includes:
- having opportunities to use services,
- experiences in services,
- and consequences of using services.
Communities who currently experience multiple challenges with accessing primary care are trans and gender diverse (T/GD) people – people whose gender differs from sex given at birth. For example, 65% of T/GD people who attended primary care, experienced stigma and discrimination because of their gender identity.
We need to improve access to (use of, experiences in, consequences of) primary so all T/GD people receive the care they need, but there is little evidence about how to do this.
Approach
This research addresses this problem through three workstreams, with communities and key stakeholders involved throughout.
- Literature review of factors influencing T/GD people’s experiences (positive/negative) accessing primary care and primary care staff experiences (positive/negative) of providing services to excluded communities (including T/GD people).
- Individual and group discussions with T/GD people and primary care staff about their views on how we can improve access to primary care.
- Workshops with communities and key stakeholders to refine ideas about ways to bring about improvements, and information on how those changes can impact practice and policy.