NHS badges

Being open and accepting to all patients should be a basic minimum for anyone in the NHS- how many lanyards and badges would you have to wear to show you are approachable by members of the LGBT community/people with MH problems/those suffering abuse at home (adults and children)/BAME people/those with hidden disabilities/autism supportive/etc

Better to have lots of awareness training across the board. It should be a basic assumption that whoever you are you will be treated with decency and respect whilst in NHS care.

It was a little different at my NHS hospital. This happened a couple of years ago, we had an email to say that we could do an online course on LBGT+ Issues, and on completion, we would receive a rainbow badge.
The course content was really about educating ourselves on LBGT+ matters, and being visible to offer support and signposting if someone asked for our help.
It was optional, no pressure, and plenty of common sense. I can’t speak for what other Trusts may have done, or how they presented it to staff. Had there been any slant to the course content that I felt uncomfortable with, or any force to do it, I would have objected.
I did the course got the badge, and also a bag of Rainbow Drops!

That seems quite sinister.

And presumably if you don't sign the pledge, that would publicly show that you don't support LGBT+ people? Even if you don't want to sign the pledge for many other reasons (don't specially support Stonewall, don't agree with compelled speech, feel that it will alienate female patients, as a pp mentioned).

Are there pledges in place (and special badges) to show support for other protected groups?

I agree with @TabithaTiger - this really isn’t as big a deal as it is being portrayed. The pledge is basically just so that by getting a rainbow badge you are actually agreeing to be an ally and not just to get a pretty badge.

Compliance was “monitored” just in overall numbers probably more to justify the job of the person responsible for giving them out.

We launched last year and less than a quarter of our staff have them. And most of those do nothing for pride allyship!

(And no, I don’t have one)

From the article -

'The campaign has rankled some doctors and nurses, however, amid leaked guidance from civil servants that health boards should record uptake among staff. A Scottish government briefing passed to this newspaper states that badges should only be awarded to staff who take the pledge and it advises that the numbers of badge-wearers “and basic info on staff groups wearing the badge” should be noted.'

Debatable how 'voluntary' it is.

See, I can see goes this will go. Some well-mesning, or woke misogynist, team leader will turn up on shift with the bag of badges and say "we all need to wear these to show our support to the LGBT community. Most people will comply (because work, boss, ignorance, etc). Team leader gets to record their film team's compliance.

Then that doctor or nurse goes back to work, and then sees female patients who clock the badge and immediately feel uncomfortable because what that badge says to her is that women's consent and boundaries do not matter to this HCP.

What is this "pledge", exactly?

Do you sign your name to some sort of written promise?

This is really normal in the NHS. We have them at my Trust, as well as rainbow lanyards. Anyone who wants one makes a pledge to say that they support LGBT+ people. It's completely voluntary and there's no pressure on anyone to sign up.