About this collaboration

We understand that every person we support has a unique experience and personalising our service is one of the important principles we work by. In Brighton and Hove we serve a diverse community and we want to ensure that everyone has an appropriate and affirmative experience of our service. We also understand that some people in society, such as LGBTQ+ people, have not had the same access or experiences with health services as others. There may be a legacy of poor experiences for LGBTQ+ people in Brighton and Hove.

We want to understand more. Our collaboration with the Switchboard is allowing us to listen to LGBTQ+ patient voices and explore the firsthand experiences of people with dementia and their loved ones. We’re doing this through a series of focus groups and conversations.

The purpose of this collaboration

Our intention with this collaboration is to:

• Listen to LGBTQ+ patients and loved ones
• Hear what is important
• Understand more about what people are looking for from our service
• Support personalisation of our offer to meet the needs
• Avoid making assumptions
• Consider what we hear and ensure that we can reflect needs in our interactions and support and the way we deliver our service