Sexual Orientation Monitoring
Monitors the sexual orientation of service users.
About this standard
- Publisher
- NHS England
- Also known as
- Sexual Orientation Monitoring, Initial Standard
- Reference code
- DCB2094 Amd 51/2015
- Publication date
- 05/10/2017
- Status
- Active
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Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.
Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Information standards
Show definitions of standard types
Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.
Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.
Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.
Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
- Contact point
Link to standard
- Documentation
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- Applies to
- Developers of information standards, data collections and data extractions
- Health services and Local Authorities with responsibilities for adult social care in England
- Impacts on
- Suppliers of systems and software to care providers and commissioners should be aware of this information standard and work with their customers to determine any appropriate changes to products.
- Associated medias
- Conformance date
- 31/03/2019
- Effective from
- 05/10/2017
Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Data definitions and terminologies
- Demographics
- Equality
- Key care information
- Reference data
- Care setting
- Community health
- Hospital
- Maternity
- Mental health
- Social care
- Urgent and Emergency Care
Dependencies and related standards
- Related standards
Review Information
- Scope
- Health Services, NHS Services, Adult Social Care
- Sponsor
Mark Davies, Director, Department of Health
- Senior Responsible Officer
Neil Churchill, Director of Participation and Experience, NHS England
- Business Lead
- Caroline Humphreys, NHS England
- Approval date
- 14/09/2017
- Post Implementation review Date
- 31/10/2018
Legal basis and endorsements
- Legal authority
Section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
More information
This information standard provides the mechanism for recording the sexual orientation of all patients/service users aged 16 years and over across all health services and Local Authorities with responsibilities for adult social care in England for the purposes of compliance with the Equality Act 2010.
In this standard, sexual orientation is taken to mean: the stated physical and emotional attraction a person feels towards one sex or another (or both). Monitoring of sexual orientation will help to ensure that:
- care providers and commissioners are able to demonstrate that there is equitable access for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals;
- care providers and commissioners have an improved understanding of the impact of inequalities on health and care outcomes for LGB populations;
- policy makers, care providers and commissioners can better identify health risks at a population level.
This will support targeted preventative and early intervention work to address health inequalities for LGB populations, thereby reducing expenditure linked to treatment costs further down the line. The standard has been based on research conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and on current practice by those organisations which monitor sexual orientation.
Developers of information standards, data collections and data extractions (ISCE), including NHS Digital, must assess impact and build in requirements as appropriate to the next release of their individual ISCE.
Health services and Local Authorities with responsibilities for adult social care in England must ensure that where sexual orientation data is recorded in Health IT Systems (outside of national ISCE), those systems must use the question and response codes set out in the Requirements Specification.
Page last updated: 20 June 2024