The lived experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender informal caregivers in England: early findings

INTRODUCTION. The Care Act 2014 (Gov.UK) was implemented in England during 2015 at a time of service reviews, budget restraints and the unfolding referendum to leave the European Union. The aims of this legislation were to create a single piece of legislation for adults and their carers, focusing on care and support. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) informal caregivers are a much under-represented group within research. This group of carers are connected through their non-heterosexual caregiving role, and I wanted to know what impact, if any, this new policy had for them.

METHOD. As part of a scoping study, an online questionnaire was designed. It was hosted by a range of carers organisations, and organisations that support the LGBT community. Partnership working agreements were set up to enable this to happen.

RESULTS. These early findings build upon existing knowledge surrounding LGBT informal caregivers, and demonstrate how the Care Act implementation has affected this community of under researched caregivers. With specific examples of how it has impacted upon them, health and social care providers can re-position the impact their viewpoints and service provision has.

CONCLUSION. Primarily, these findings will be fed back to the host organisations, and to the participants ensuring that its impact connects back to these communities. These early findings will also be used to inform the next phase of the PhD in-depth interview design.