05 June 2026
Pride Month is an opportunity to celebrate LGBTQIA+ communities, recognise progress and reflect on how healthcare can continue evolving to better support patients from all backgrounds. For healthcare professionals, it also highlights the value of active listening as part of good care. Every patient brings lived experiences that shape how they engage with healthcare, communicate symptoms and build trust with clinicians. Creating spaces where people feel heard, respected and understood can have a meaningful impact on care experiences and outcomes.
That is why patient voices matter.
We’re proud to highlight Patient Voices, a 10-part podcast series bringing real patient experiences to the forefront of clinical practice. Thoughtfully developed with patients at its heart, each episode blends powerful lived experience with expert clinical insight, creating a practical resource to improve everyday care.
Across the series, we explore topics like working with rheumatic disease, neurodiversity in the clinic and supporting exercise, including a conversation with a Winter Olympian.
Our latest episode, Listening, Learning, and Inclusion: LGBTQIA+ Experiences in Rheumatology, hosted by Dr Chris Wincup with guests Dr Simone Battista and Grayson Schultz, explores how LGBTQIA+ patient experiences can help shape more inclusive rheumatology care.
Healthcare experiences start before the appointment
Many patients arrive in clinic carrying previous experiences that influence how safe they feel seeking care.
As Dr Simone Battista explains:
"Many LGBTQIA+ patients don't walk into a clinic like the rheumatology clinic as a blank state. They might carry what we call minority stress... the accumulation of past experiences like stigma, discrimination, or even just anticipation of being misunderstood."
For LGBTQIA+ patients, healthcare experiences can involve additional considerations that many clinicians may never have to think about. Grayson Schultz describes some of the questions that can accompany attending an appointment:
"How much risk am I putting myself in by disclosing or talking about my identities in this space? Am I going to face discrimination walking into the space?"
These experiences can affect how patients engage with healthcare and when they seek support. As discussed in the episode, stigma and discrimination can contribute to delayed care, meaning some patients present with higher disease burden, worsening symptoms or preventable complications.
Small changes can make a big difference
Creating inclusive healthcare environments does not necessarily require major changes. In many cases, small, consistent actions can help.
Dr Simone Battista highlights how clinical environments can actively signal inclusion:
"Visible signs like a simple rainbow lanyard and inclusive posters."
But visibility alone is not enough.
"There should be an alignment between all the symbols that we put in our clinics and our behaviours."
The episode explores practical examples clinicians can consider:
- Using inclusive language
- Avoiding assumptions about relationships or identity
- Ensuring systems record names and pronouns correctly
- Reviewing forms and digital systems to improve inclusivity
- Creating welcoming clinical environments that build trust
As Simone explains:
"Small assumptions can also have a big impact... asking 'do you have a wife or husband?' instead of 'do you have a partner?'... all this seems very minor... but actually they normally accumulate and then they shape trust."
The encouraging message is that small improvements can create meaningful change.
"If we make small changes, this can have a big impact."
Learning from lived experience
Clinical expertise is essential. Lived experience brings another perspective that can strengthen care. Patient voices help clinicians better understand barriers that may otherwise go unseen.
Grayson describes how repeated healthcare experiences can accumulate over time:
"I noticed as time went on that I felt more drained after appointments... more anxious opening up my electronic healthcare record... or even calling to make appointments."
Listening to experiences like these can help healthcare professionals identify opportunities to improve systems, communication and clinical practice. Importantly, this work extends beyond LGBTQIA+ care alone. As explored in the episode, improving inclusivity, communication and trust benefits all patients.
Learning beyond Pride Month
Pride Month offers an important opportunity to spotlight LGBTQIA+ voices and experiences. But inclusive healthcare matters for longer than just one month of the year. Creating equitable care means continually listening, learning and reflecting on how healthcare systems can better support diverse patient communities. Conversations like these help move that work forward.
Listen now
Listening, Learning, and Inclusion: LGBTQIA+ Experiences in Rheumatology is available now as part of our Patient Voices podcast series.
Start listening today and stay tuned for new episodes coming your way throughout the year.