Pride in Health + Wellbeing is proud to continue our series HWEI Awards Spotlight in conversation with Burnside Hospital, a Gold Tier achiever and winner of the Most Improved 2025 Service Provider and LGBTQ+ Ally of the Year.

There is an array of Awards given at the annual Australian Pride in Health + Wellbeing Awards, based on the results of the Health + Wellbeing Equality Index (HWEI) Submissions and additional nominated categories.

This series provides a detailed focus on the winners of these awards, recognising the achievements in LGBTQ+ inclusion across the health, wellbeing, human services, and community care sector.

Most Improved Service Provider

The award for Most Improved Service Provider celebrates a participating organisation that has demonstrated significant progress and obvious dedication to LGBTQ+ inclusive service delivery. This recognition is measured by the greatest increase in their HWEI Submission score when compared to their most recent previous score obtained.

This award highlights not only measurable improvement, but also the service provider’s commitment to continuous improvement, learning, and journey toward best practice standards in creating an inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ service users, staff and our communities.

Their progress serves as an inspiration to others, proving that meaningful change is possible with persistence, vision, and genuine commitment.

LGBTQ+ Ally of the Year

This submission recognises the outstanding contribution of an individual who does not personally identify as an LGBTQ+ individual, but who has made a significant contribution to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the health and wellbeing sectors as an ally to LGBTQ+ people. They have supported both staff and service users (including their family and carers) with LGBTQ+ inclusive service delivery.

Allies can provide LGBTQ+ communities with an opportunity to extend reach and support mechanisms, increase their voice and help reduce the prevalence of homophobic bullying, harassment, taunts, jokes and exclusion that still exist.

Active and visible allies are people who tend to want to make positive and effective changes for LGBTQ+ people.

About the Winners:

Burnside Hospital

Burnside Hospital has a long history of supporting our community as a not-for-profit community hospital. Over time, as our community has evolved, we’ve recognised the importance of increasing efforts to address the shifting needs of our community members. When we completed our first HWEI benchmarking submission, we were just beginning our journey towards becoming a more intentionally inclusive and supportive environment for LGBTQ+ patients and staff at our hospital.

Our initial HWEI benchmarking result provided us with clear, actionable insights and a roadmap for change. Over the past few years, we have made a commitment to continually improve and to ensure that every person of all sexual orientations and gender identities feel respected, valued and supported in our care. The award we have received is testament to the hard work, dedication and passion of our team, and particularly our Ally Network. We have created a culture of inclusion as a fundamental part of the care we provide. This result would not have been possible without the efforts of our clinical staff, front of house staff, support staff and valuable participation from consumer representatives who have worked together to create this change.

Being recognised by Pride in Health + Wellbeing with awards for Gold Tier Service Provider and Most Improved Service Provider demonstrates that we are on track and illustrates our commitment to continuing this work into the future.

Thank you, Pride in Health + Wellbeing, for this incredible honour, and I would also like to thank our team for supporting our continued work towards inclusion.

- Alan Morrison, Chief Executive Officer

Erin Jordan

As manager of reception and eligibility, Erin could be more accurately described as "manager of first impressions."

She has been a founding member of the ALLY Network at Burnside Hospital which she embraces with compassion and positive energy. Her enthusiasm for LGBTQ+ inclusion is a driving force behind improvements such as all-gender bathrooms, inclusive patient registration forms and visible indicators of inclusion throughout the reception areas of our hospital buildings.

She has done a wonderful job of ensuring that Burnside Hospital is a welcoming and inclusive place for our patients and her team. Erin leads the reception team with enthusiasm, actively guiding them with ALLY principles so that they all endeavour to provide the welcoming and supportive environment required by consumers as they are admitted to our healthcare service.

Erin is a fantastic role model in the ALLY space, and her guidance and leadership ensures that staff and patients are fully included across the hospital.

About this Session:

Join Pride in Health + Wellbeing and our guest panellists from Burnside Hospital as we discuss how service providers can successfully contribute to inclusive service delivery for people diverse sexualities and genders; the importance of LGBTQ+ Allies; and the impact this has on organisational culture, inclusive service delivery, and service user experience.

Pride in Health + Wellbeing Co-hosts:

· Daniel Comensoli (he/him), Senior Relationship Manager

· Will Reilly (he/him), Index Project Manager

Guest Panellists from St. Vincent’s Health Network:

· Wendy Gray (she/her), Director of Quality & Risk and Chair of the Ally network

· Kristin Cheesman (she/her), Clinical Educator and Secretary of the Ally network

· Erin Jordan (she/her), Reception & Eligibility Manager and member of the Ally network

This session will be virtual.

Registration links will be sent out the morning of the event.

About the Health + Wellbeing Equality Index:

Since 2020, Pride in Health + Wellbeing’s Index (HWEI) has stood as the definitive national benchmark on LGBTQ+ inclusive service delivery, and comprises a roadmap, auditing and benchmarking tool, and engagement survey by which national standards of best practice for LGBTQ+ inclusion are set. The Index drives best practice in Australia and sets a comparative benchmark for Australian organisations providing health, wellbeing and human services to LGBTQ+ service users. For this reason alone, the Index has to be comprehensive and rigorous. The work compiled annually by organisations submitting for the Index is a testament to the importance of LGBTQ+ inclusion within their current D&I initiatives.

Participation will provide service providers not only with clear guidelines in terms of getting started but a reportable gap analysis of their current practice or results that can also be used for progressing work in LGBTQ+-inclusive service provision. It also allows Pride in Health + Wellbeing to showcase examples of best practice from within the submitting organisations.

These benefit both staff within their agencies and service users, regardless of how they identify.

To learn more about the HWEI Submissions, head to our website.

Your organisation can also register for participation in:

· The 2025 - 2026 HWEI Submission registration

· 2026 Award Nominations

Contact the host of HWEI Awards Spotlight: LGBTQ+ Ally of the Year, Most Improved Service Provider