A MEDICAL practice has been honoured for its excellent healthcare provision for the LGBT community.

Tottington Medical Practice has been awarded a gold Pride in Practice status for their receptiveness to the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual patients.

The LGBT Foundation said it was delighted to hand the Market Street surgery the award.

Pride in Practice demonstrates a practice's commitment and dedication to ensure a fully inclusive patient-centred service.

Tottington Medical Practice said in a statement: "We are absolutely delighted to receive this award.

"Tottington Medical Practice has always promoted equality and inclusivity for all our patients regardless of background or orientation.

"The whole team is honoured to receive this and we will always strive to maintain these high standards."

Staff underwent training around LGBT inclusion in 2016, which provided information on how to deliver appropriate services and support.

Efforts to reach out to LGBT patients include adding posters to the waiting room and including Sexual Orientation Monitoring and Trans Status Monitoring on patient forms.

Clinical staff were said to be very well informed on the specific needs of the nearby LGBT community and have a growing understanding and knowledge of prevalent conditions and issues.

Pride in Practice co-ordinator for Bury, Andrew Gilliver, said: "It has been incredibly rewarding working with Tottington Medical Practice over the last year.

"I found the entire team to be particularly enthusiastic about how they could improve their own awareness of how to support their lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans patients.

"Over the last year we have kept in regular contact and it is with great pride that we recently presented them with their well-deserved Pride in Practice Gold award for ‘excellence in LGBT healthcare.

"Even though the practice has been awarded our highest level award they remain keen to continue to improve the services they provide and I would say this practice is a brilliant example of how we can take forward Pride in Practice with other primary care services throughout the wider Bury area."