Many health, human and wellbeing services claim they “welcome everyone” regardless of who they are, how they identify, their culture, religion, gender and sexuality. But the reality is they haven’t actively checked that their services are inclusive, safe or even welcoming to many communities including LGBTQ people, nor have they asked their staff and service users.
Free National LGBTQ-Inclusive Service Delivery Benchmarking Index
ACON’s Pride in Health + Wellbeing program will help you do a FREE annual health check on your organisation’s inclusivity of sexuality and gender diverse people and have just released their annual report based on the Health + Wellbeing Equality Index. Their Health + Wellbeing Equality Index (HWEI) is a free national benchmarking tool that any clinician, service provider, government agency or peak body can participate in. This benchmark reviews your work in the previous calendar year; providing you with your organisational results, and an anonymous comparison across the sector.
HWEI 2020 Benchmarking Publication
These results are then published in our benchmarking publication (soft copies can be found here: HWEI Results Publications) which has just been released for the 2020 index. The HWEI not only allows you to check your organisation’s inclusion health, but also to compare your performance to the rest of the health, wellbeing and human services sector.
The HWEI also allows you to quantitatively measure your inclusion journey and demonstrate year-on-year improvements, or act as a gap analysis if you are just starting out. Every participating organisation is given their own comprehensive feedback report, allowing you to maintain quality improvement processes each year. It also allows you to provide evidence for any regulatory standards you are being assessed on, as well as working towards best practice.
2021 Optional Staff and Service User survey
In the 2021 HWEI submission, there will also be the option of participating in the HWEI staff and/or client surveys. These two surveys can be added to your HWEI benchmarking submission to provide valuable information on your staff’s awareness and comfort levels in providing LGBTQ-inclusive care, as well as measuring your service user’s experiences with your organisation.
The two additional surveys (which you can choose to participate in either, both or neither) will provide valuable information to your organisation to see the real impact of your inclusion work and to identify hot-spots where focused attention, communication and training may be needed.
The 2020 Benchmarking Publication also has a summary of the latest LGBTQ related health research, making it a valuable tool for many organisations who want to better understand the barriers to care and health disparities faced by people of diverse genders and sexualities.
The 2021 submission document and evidence guides can be downloaded now from www.PrideinHealth.com.au/HWEI. The optional surveys will be released on 1 November for completion by 12th March 2021 (which is also the submission deadline). Index submissions open in the New Year, although it is recommended you start working through the index now and gathering your evidence.
For further information….
For further information on the Health + Wellbeing Equality Index, to download the 2020 benchmarking publication or to find out more on the Pride in Health +Wellbeing Program and how it can support your team please visit: www.PrideinHealth.com.au or call (02) 9206 2139.