THE first Charter Mark award for excellence in providing health service needs for lesbians and gay men in West Lancashire will be presented later this month.

The award will go to Drugline Lancashire to acknowledge its work in providing equity and addressing health and safety issues for members of the gay community.

Earlier this year a North West Lancashire Health Authority project called the Navajo Initiative was launched.

The scheme won an NHS Equality award for its work in providing a strategic approach to healthcare for lesbians and gay men.

Established by health promotion professionals from the authority, the project's aim is to develop a holistic health strategy -- sexual, physical and mental -- for the gay community in Preston, Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre areas.

The project also addresses the impact of social factors on health, such as poverty, poor housing, parenting, equality at work, homophobia, education, social inclusion and exclusion -- the overriding issues being equality. Many members of the gay community feel that access to health services is restricted by prejudice by those providing the service, and that there is a continuing fear of discrimination.

For some time a number of agencies, including the police, have been actively engaged in tackling inequalities and injustices and Drugline Lancashire is one of eleven organisations that have achieved the Charter Mark status for its excellent work in this field.

Kath Talboys, Drugline Lancashire co-ordinator, said: "Drugline Lancashire feels it is very important that its services are accessible to all members of society and especially minority groups like the gay community.

"We are absolutely delighted to receive the Charter Mark award and hope that it will open the doors and raise awareness of how challenging it is for lesbians and gay men to make contact with health services."