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To celebrate LGBT+ History Month, Stephen Minto, has shared what he loves about his role, and touches on important topics around improving LGBT+ community access to healthcare services.

My name is Stephen Minto, and I am the senior clinical nurse specialist – clinical infection (HIV / Blood Borne Viruses (BBV)) at the trust. I offer support to all our patients across Northumbria who are living with HIV.

I’m based at the One-to-One Centre in Shiremoor, but my work takes me to a variety of places trust wide. This includes several outreach venues, where I offer HIV and BBV testing to communities that may not routinely come to us. This is a really important part of my role as it helps to reduce health inequalities.

I’ve always had a keen interest in the developing ‘world’ of HIV and BBV care since qualifying as a nurse back in 2008, so I’m glad that I’m now in this field.

I support all aspects of HIV-related care, from diagnosis through to the establishment of effective antiretroviral therapy. More recently, I have successfully qualified as a cervical screening sample taker to support those in my care who have a cervix and require more regular cervical cancer screening.

What I enjoy about my job

I am very passionate about my role as I love being able to support patients from diagnosis on to treatment. I also love that my role allows me to work in partnership with a wider team of dedicated, skilled professionals who strive to deliver excellent service to patients. This area of nursing interests me and inspires me to continue developing my own knowledge and skills.

The biggest challenges for LGBT+ accessing services over the years.

I think a big challenge for the LGBT+ community is having a fear of being judged by healthcare professionals. This is especially with regards to HIV-related stigma within healthcare, but outside of sexual health and infectious diseases services.

Support for the LGBT+ community to improve access to healthcare services.

Our sexual health service promotes services at specific LGBT + events throughout the year such as pride events, with particular emphasis in June for Pride Month. We also support the LGBT+ community through our work in schools and community groups.

We strive to ensure our service is LGBT+ inclusive for all especially young people. Through training and education sessions, we ensure including language is used and discuss safety in all types of sexual relationships.

Celebrating LGBT+ History Month is really important as it reminds us how far society has come and highlights how resilient the LGBT+ community is. It also shows what challenges we still need to overcome, which we will hopefully continue to tackle.