Since lockdown began in March 2020, Healthwatch Lancashire has worked with Healthwatch Together colleagues to design, promote and analyse surveys focused on the public’s experiences of the pandemic. Updating and adjusting to the developing lockdown, the ‘covid-19 survey’ has evolved over three versions to embrace the intelligence we’ve received over four months. 

Over the course of lockdown, Healthwatch Together has published reports to share the information that the public has generously shared with us. Covering key themes, recurring challenges, frequently asked questions, points of positivity, each report has helped to build a picture of our individual and shared experiences of this unique period of time. 

Our latest report focuses on the experiences of the LGBTQ community during the Covid-19 lockdown and presents responses to ‘version two’ of our ‘covid-19 survey’.

The Report: Aims

Designed in consultation with Dr Lewis Turner of LGBT Lancashire, version two of the survey updated a range of demographic questions to account for the range of diversity within the LGBTQ community and in order to identify particular issues.

This report is based on the information provided by our LGBTQ respondents. It is intended to complement existing reports, particularly the summary reports of version one and version two. But aims to investigate further the issues raised by LGBTQ respondents and to compare their experiences of the pandemic with those of the general population of respondents.

This summary report is not intended as a scientific study into the effects of the pandemic on the LGBTQ community, as there has been no methodological sampling or statistical analysis conducted. It is intended as an insight into the experience of some LGBTQ people who live in Cumbria and Lancashire and aims to provide a ‘snapshot’ of their lived experience during these unprecedented times.

The Findings: Summary

The report has uncovered a range of findings that are noteworthy and help to portray the experiences of Cumbria and Lancashire residents. This includes:

• For the LGBTQ community it is possible to see from the findings of this survey, that they have experienced a greater impact on their mental health (on average) from the coronavirus pandemic and were also more likely (on average) to suffer poor mental health prior to the pandemic.
• Financially, the LGBTQ people we engaged with were slightly less likely to feel a financial impact.
• It has been difficult for many people within the UK to access the social support that they usually rely on, during this lockdown period. For LGBTQ people who rely on “LGBT communities and spaces for vital support and understanding”¹ this can be particularly difficult, especially if they
  are trapped in a house with people who do not understand or support them.

Read the full report here