Here’s a number that should make anyone who has ever sat in a GP waiting room pause: in one survey gathered by a review of UK and Irish health education published this year, only 12.5% of students felt their knowledge of LGBTQ+ health was good enough.

That figure comes from a review commissioned and part-funded by NHS England, and it’s the backdrop to a small, practical offer landing this week, just in time for Transgender Awareness Week.

The short version

  • The review: Catherine Meads (Anglia Ruskin University) and Christopher Morrison (University of Aberdeen) pulled together 15 surveys and two curriculum reviews from the UK and Ireland, published in Behavioral Sciences in January 2026.
  • The headline finding: “Teaching about the health of SGM people is not mandated in UK health professionals’ educational curricula.” (SGM means sexual- and gender-minority, so LGBTQ+.)
  • The offer: From Friday 13 to Friday 20 November, UK medical students can take a five-hour, CPD-accredited trans-care course for free, PinkNews reported.

What the review found

The review was commissioned through NHS England’s National Advisor for LGBT Health, Dr Michael Brady. It isn’t one big new survey; it gathers what UK and Irish surveys since 2015 have found across medicine, nursing, midwifery, dentistry, pharmacy and paramedicine. The picture is consistent.

  • The rules are silent. A 2025 curriculum review found the General Medical Council’s standards, and 15 of 18 accessible Royal College curricula, don’t mention LGBTQ+ content at all.
  • Students say they weren’t taught. In one survey, 59.1% of students had no LGBTQ+ health teaching, only 12.5% felt their knowledge was sufficient, and 97.2% wanted more.
  • Trans care is the biggest gap. Among London medical students, more than three-quarters had never been taught trans healthcare and more than 80% wanted to be. Of 60 foundation doctors in another survey, just 3% had received any education.
  • Teachers want to, but are stretched. Medical educators named time constraints (71%), inadequate resources (64%) and their own confidence (36%) as barriers.

The authors are upfront about limits: response rates were often low and surveys asked different questions. But their conclusion is direct: “Until curriculum setters mandate SGM health, patient complaints will continue.”

The free course, in practical terms

The course is “Foundations of Gender: A Clinician’s Journey” from Affirm, an online training platform co-founded by clinical psychologist Laura Scarrone Bonhomme. The course page lists 18 lessons (about five hours), CPD certification and a normal price of £195.

According to PinkNews, for the free week:

  • Who: Medical students at UK institutions.
  • How: Register online with your university email address.
  • When: Friday 13 to Friday 20 November, timed for Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance.
  • After that: Medical schools that want ongoing access can contact Affirm.

The six modules run from the foundations of gender and gender norms, through sexuality beyond labels and the history of trans health, to interviews with trans and non-binary people about their care and a final module on the clinician’s role, including language skills and case scenarios.

The course is adapted from the book Gender Affirming Therapy: A Guide to What Transgender and Non-Binary Clients Can Teach Us, by Scarrone Bonhomme, Dr Michael Beattie and Skye Davies. Trans healthcare provider Gender Plus has endorsed it; its director, Dr Claudia Zitz, called the training “so comprehensive” that the clinic decided to promote it to its network, PinkNews reported.

A five-hour course won’t fix a curriculum gap on its own, and nobody involved claims it will. It’s one option for students who’ve noticed the gap and want to do something about it this week.

Why it lands now

The timing isn’t only about awareness week. In October, NHS England told hospitals to place patients on single-sex wards on the basis of biological sex. Trans and LGBTQ+ groups criticised that guidance for not explaining how trans patients should be cared for safely.

Put the two together and the stakes are clear. When the rules get harder for trans patients, the knowledge and confidence of the person in front of them matters more, not less.

What the review says should change

The authors’ recommendations are concrete:

  • Regulators should explicitly require LGBTQ+ health in curricula. Right now the GMC’s, NMC’s and HCPC’s learning objectives are generic.
  • Build train-the-trainer courses for health educators, which the authors say don’t currently exist in the UK.
  • Pilot teaching in regional clusters and test what works in a randomised trial.
  • Involve LGBTQ+ patients in designing the teaching.
  • Avoid placing these topics where they imply that being LGB or trans is a mental illness.

If you’re a student, this week there’s one easy step you can take. If you’re a patient, the review is a reminder that the gaps you may have run into are documented, and that your feedback is part of the evidence for changing them.