“Our research showed there is still much work to be done to ensure Black people have positive experiences of sexual and reproductive healthcare,” the project’s researcher Dr Shardia Briscoe-Palmer wrote in a blog post about the results.

“Participants talked about not feeling welcome, not feeling listened to, and negative stereotypes and assumptions, leading to a lack of trust and reluctance to attend services at all,” she continued. “The feeling of not being listened to was a theme which came up frequently.”

The project also revealed that Black women’s pain is frequently being “dismissed” or not taken seriously – and that racialised stereotypes continue to surface in patient-doctor interactions.

At a time when research has shown that Black people experience some of the worst sexual and reproductive health outcomes in the UK, it’s concerning that so many people are feeling excluded from such integral services – and it’s clear that urgent change is needed.

Black women are having their pain “dismissed” by sexual health services