A network of medical students, doctors and educators committed to better teaching on LGBTQ+ health care
LATEST UPDATES
Look below to see the latest updates in the campaign and what we have been up to.
LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in Medical Education Conference
We are very excited to announce LIMA's first conference 'LGBTQIA+ Inclusion in Medical Education' in collaboration with Leeds LGBTQ+ Medics! We aim to bring passionate people working in this area together. Expect spotlight talks, poster presentations, art displays and networking. Come along to meet the LIMA team on the 14th December 09:30am to 4pm in Leeds.
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We are accepting applications to present until the 14th November. Come along to share your work, passions and research in this area. Apply here.
Tickets are only £5! We can't wait to meet you all there.
HOW WE STARTED
March 2022
We started off in late 2021 as a group who had a shared vision to change the UK medical curriculum to better equip medical students with knowledge on LGBTQ+ healthcare. This original group has formed the executive committee - through video calls and group chats we came up with our vision, aims and goals.
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Our next step is to expand our network and get more people involved. We want to have as many people on board as possible so we can hear a wide range of perspectives. In the next few weeks we will be putting out an expression of interest form to gauge who would like to be involved. From this we will then form a Medical Students Representatives Committee and an Advisory Board.
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Once we have put this together we aim to meet with both fortnightly to discuss visions, plans and ways to make these reality.
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The two first things that we aim to do as a network are:
1. Create awareness through social media of how medical students are not currently being equipped by their medical schools with knowledge on LGBTQ+ healthcare
2. Write and share an open letter to the GMC, MSC and NICE calling for change in LGBTQ+ healthcare teaching (as is outlined in the long term aims). We aim for this letter to be signed by as many medical students, healthcare professionals and medical educators as possible.
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Whilst these are our current plans, we are always open to suggestions and would love to hear your feedback and ideas.
CAMPAIGN AND OPEN LETTER
June 2022
In June 2022 we ran a Pride month campaign (#LIMAPrideCampaign) across our various social media platforms (see in the Resources section).
We also wrote and published a letter the General Medical Council and the Medical Schools Council, calling for a change in LGBTQ+ health inclusion in the medical curriculum (see in the Open Letter section). We now have over 15 endorsing organisations, 10 key signatories, and 150 signatories. We are in ongoing conversations with the GMC and MSC as a result of the letter.
Check back later for more updates regarding the outcome of these discussions!
NATIONAL ADVISOR FOR LGBT HEALTH AWARD
September 2022
On September 7th we were honoured to accept the ‘National Advisor for LGBT Health Award’, given to us at the LGBT Health 2022 conference. For our work on improving teaching for medical students on LGBTQ+ healthcare. The award recognises outstanding work across the NHS to improve the experience of LGBT+ patients and the LGBT+ workforce and shine a light on examples of best practice.
We were incredibly happy and surprised to win and will continue to do our work to make a difference.
PUBLICATION OF OUR PAPER
March 2023
In the past week our paper detailing the results of our national survey on medical students' perspectives of the teaching they have received on LGBTQ+ health has been published in the Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development. The paper can be read by following the link below.
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This project has been ongoing for over 2 years now so we are very happy to finally see the results out there! If you have any questions or want to discuss the findings of this study please contact us.
EXPANDING OUR COMMITTEE
January 2024
In May 2023, we decided to expand our exec committee members to include 4 new medical students: Rachael, Seb, Neha and Rory.
Since then, Seb and Rachael have started up our new initiative the LIMA Student Group in November 2023. This is a group of medical students from across the country who are all doing their own hard work to improve LGBTQ+ medical teaching as well as LGBTQ+ medical students’ university experiences at their respective medical schools. The aim of the group is to bring together these people so they can help each-other make change, get involved in more initiatives or research and feel better supported by us at LIMA and by each other to continue the work they are doing.
Rachael is also collecting data for her Medical Education iBSc - Transgender and gender diverse teaching in the undergraduate medical curriculum: perceptions of final year medical students and foundation year doctors.