Rainbow NHS badge and leaflet

A5 folded colour leaflet 'Information for staff' about NHS Rainbow badges, a with a rectangular enamel rainbow pin badge attached, developed by Dr Michael Farquhar at Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust, 2018

The NHS Rainbow badge is a way of staff communicating that they are a person that anyone, particularly young people can talk to about sexuality and gender. According to 2015 Unhealthy Attitudes report by Stonewall, 1 in 6 health and social care staff did not think that sexual orientation was relevant to healthcare with almost a quarter of NHS patient-facing staff have heard colleagues make negative remarks about LGBTIQA+ people. Further research reported that one in seven LGBT+ people said they have avoided healthcare treatment for fear of discrimination. Over a course of a lifetime, these inequalities add up, negatively impacting people’s health.

Dr Mike Farqhuar, Consultant at the Evelina London Children's Hospital started the Rainbow badge in 2018, distributing a few hundred badges to friends and colleagues. The massive support for the badge led to a re-launch in February 2019 at the Evelina during LGBT+ history month. Once a NHS Trust signs up to the programme, an Implementation Toolkit helps them set up the scheme. Staff actively sign up for a badge after reading core information and training. Each person makes a pledge, acknowledging the responsibility of wearing a rainbow badge. Michael was supported in this work by Alex Matheson, Jessica law and Dr Éilís McGrath.

For his work, Dr Michael Farquhar, was awarded the Individual Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust Award in the “Respecting Others” in 2018 and won the Inspiration Award at the inaugural Proud Scotland Awards, a year later. In 2019, he was awarded both the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Voice Champion Award, selected by children and young people themselves. In 2023, Michael received the GLADD UK (The Association of LGBTQ+ Doctors and Dentists) UK David Harvey Award jointly with Alex Matheson for their Rainbow NHS badge work.

From 2021 to 2024, the NHS Rainbow badge became an assessment and accreditation model for NHS Trusts. Led by a dedicated team in partnership with LGBT Foundation, Stonewall, LGBT Consortium, Brighton & Hove LGBT Switchboard and GLADD, Trusts can be awarded a Gold, Silver or Bronze and are advised on areas to improve.

The use of the rainbow during COVID-19 to bring messages of hope but also support NHS workers caused confusion. In an NHS environment, the seven-colour rainbow arch is used to say thank you to NHS staff and the six colour rainbow pin badge to support LGBT+ people. When the badge was launched in Scotland in 2021 and Ireland in 2021, new designs were developed based on the Progress Pride flag and the Intersex Progress Pride Flag.