Pride Month 2025

"Pride Month is a time to champion LGBTQ+ voices, show our support of LGBTQ+ rights and reaffirm our commitment to equality.  

At the RCoA, we welcome and celebrate our LGBTQ+ members and support their rights, wellbeing and valued contributions and those of colleagues, employees and patients. Fostering inclusion, visibility and respect – within our specialty and the NHS – is essential.  

We have a responsibility to provide equitable, compassionate and informed care for all our patients. There is always more to learn, and we remain committed to listening and improving.  

I wish everyone a happy Pride Month. I hope you enjoy the opportunities to celebrate and show solidarity with the LGTBTQ+ community." 

Dr Claire Shannon, President 

Valuing and supporting our LGBTQ+ members, colleagues, employees and patients

At the Royal College of Anaesthetists, we value and support our LGBTQ+ members, colleagues, employees and patients. Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee leads our work in this area, aligned to our core values of justice and fairness.    

During Pride Month we want to amplify the voices of our LGBTQ+ members and highlight relevant resources. As Dr Andrew Hartle reminds us in his Bulletin article, widespread discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, including doctors, is worryingly recent.  

As a community, it’s important we recognise this, as demonstrated by the General Medical Council’s formal apology for taking regulatory action against doctors who were prosecuted under historic homophobic laws.  

We also want to reflect on the patient experience, something Dr Duncan McGregor highlighted when we interviewed him last year:  

“The perioperative journey can play a massive role in a patient’s impression of healthcare and anaesthetists are a vital part of it. It’s important to remember the huge number of LGBTQ+ patients that actively avoid healthcare because of bad interactions. To have a positive interaction and make someone feel comfortable and seen in a healthcare environment can make a tremendous difference.”  

We invite our members to share their own experiences and contributions with us. You are welcome to participate by tagging us @rcoanews on X, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.  

Resources

We have shared some of our relevant resources below. In addition, members might find the following of interest: 

• The RCoA College shop offers a Pride lanyard.
• The Association of LGBTQ+ Doctors and Dentists (GLADD)