Another fascinating article.

This is a brilliant series of blogs, it shows how LGBT issues have been - and are being- treated within the NHS. As @Drew Payne works with the NHS this is a unique viewpoint and highlights some aspects that have received little or no publicity. I was unaware that the NHS had made attempts to stop funding PrEP medication and see this as being shocking, PrEP is cheaper to administer than HIV treatment and therefore cheaper in the long run. I don't know if this was brought about by discrimination/prejudice or stupidity on the part of NHS management, either way it is horrifying news and begs the question, where will this type of policy stop? Will someone want to stop treating eating disorders? Will they advocate stopping abortion? This is something that affects everyone not just the LGBT community, what other treatments will be targeted next? This may be a stretch of the imagination but it brings to mind a quote from the second world war, by Reverend Martin Niemoller: "In Germany they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

It makes me think that between the American Republican Party and the British Conservative Party they are trying to re-invent many forms of discrimination under the guise of 'traditional family values', this is a personal opinion not a statement of fact. We all need to be aware of, and watch closely, any moves by organisations large and small that are an attempt to remove the rights and equal treatment of any section of society.

Shocking that the NHS tried to stop funding PREP, thus preventing its use.

On 7/20/2022 at 7:07 PM, chris191070 said:

Another fascinating article.

Thank you.

When I originally wrote this article, I was trying to be positive about the future but events decided to stop me.

On 7/21/2022 at 10:09 AM, Mancunian said:

This is a brilliant series of blogs, it shows how LGBT issues have been - and are being- treated within the NHS. As @Drew Payne works with the NHS this is a unique viewpoint and highlights some aspects that have received little or no publicity. I was unaware that the NHS had made attempts to stop funding PrEP medication and see this as being shocking, PrEP is cheaper to administer than HIV treatment and therefore cheaper in the long run. I don't know if this was brought about by discrimination/prejudice or stupidity on the part of NHS management, either way it is horrifying news and begs the question, where will this type of policy stop? Will someone want to stop treating eating disorders? Will they advocate stopping abortion? This is something that affects everyone not just the LGBT community, what other treatments will be targeted next? This may be a stretch of the imagination but it brings to mind a quote from the second world war, by Reverend Martin Niemoller: "In Germany they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

It makes me think that between the American Republican Party and the British Conservative Party they are trying to re-invent many forms of discrimination under the guise of 'traditional family values', this is a personal opinion not a statement of fact. We all need to be aware of, and watch closely, any moves by organisations large and small that are an attempt to remove the rights and equal treatment of any section of society.

@Mancunian, thank you for this.

I am so proud of being given the chance to originally write these comment pieces and have them published, at the time I felt I could, maybe, change some attitudes. I fear I didn't achieve that because so many of them repeat the same themes, how homophobia is still prevalent in the NHS, as it is in the rest of our society.

I decided to re-post them as blogs because a friend of mine complained to me that she had never been able to read them because she doesn't subscribe to Nursing Standard magazine, where they were published. I have been so surprised by the response they have generated as blogs.

I was so angry about NHS England going to court to get the right not to fund PrEP. It was breath-takingly prejudiced, even if they didn't think it was meant to be. In October 2016, I wrote an in-depth blog about why this was such a fundamentally wrong decision. You can read it here.