NHS Scotland Pride badge
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The NHS Scotland Pride badge promotes inclusion for LGBTQ+ people and makes a statement that there’s no place for discrimination or harassment of any kind in NHS Scotland.
As an NHS staff member who wears the badge, you are pledging to:
- be aware of and responsive to issues faced by LGBTQ+ people accessing care
- be a friendly, listening ally who colleagues and service users can safely approach
- use inclusive language and respect identity.
NHS Scotland Pride badge (video)
3 steps to make the pledge and receive your badge
1. Pride Badge Toolkit
Download and read the Pride Badge Toolkit has been developed to provide you with all you need to know about wearing the NHS Scotland Pride Badge. It also gives you some useful tips about managing things like social media responses and signposting people to national organisations.
2. Pride Pledge form
Download the Pride Pledge form.
3. Complete and return your Pledge
Please your send your completed form as an attachment within an email to:
- Highland HSCP colleagues - hirs.mailbox@nhs.scot
- Argyll and Bute HSCP colleagues - nhsh.abhealthimprovement@nhs.scot
Please title your email Pride Badge and remember to tell us the NHS department where you work so we can send out your badge in internal mail.
Further information
Some people may be having a particularly tough time and may disclose to you that they have experienced or witnessed harassment or hate crime on the grounds of their sexual preference, gender identity or other characteristic such as their ethnicity, faith or disability. It’s important that you signpost to the support in place for people to report this type of crime and that it can be reported easily. More information is available from the Police Scotland website: Report Hate Crime to Police Scotland.
You may be approached by colleagues who disclose they are experiencing discrimination and would like support to deal with it. Let them know they should raise their concerns with their manager in the first instance. If the manager is the potential issue, then they should raise their concerns with their manager's manager. The People and Change team assist with guidance and support in these matters. More information is available on the NHS Scotland Workforce Policies website.
Taking small steps to be more LGBT+ inclusive can make a big difference. Stonewall's e-learning module LGBT people and public services: good practice provides the opportunity to explore factors which impact on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people’s experiences when accessing public services, including health and social care and helps identify ways to become more inclusive. To access the course, please visit the TURAS website.