Sexual Orientation Monitoring standard may act as an enabler for the Equality Act 2010, supporting good practice and reducing risk for organisations required to comply with the Act through the following;
- Collecting and analysing data on sexual orientation allows public sector bodies to better understand and respond to Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual patients’ service access, outcomes and experience and to provide evidence of their compliance with the Duty.
- Supported by the NHS Constitution and the Equality Delivery System (EDS2):
- NHS Constitution states that the NHS provides a comprehensive service to all irrespective of their backgrounds and circumstances, including the protected characteristics they have or do not have.
- EDS2 is a facilitative equality tool including a set of outcomes covering patient care, access and experience. NHS commissioners and providers analyse their performance against these outcomes for each group afforded protection under the Equality Act 2010.
Currently new monitoring is still under construction and is being piloted across a few Trusts, further information will be made available as information is produced.