We are embarking on a community engagement exercise to help the NHS improve Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities’ experiences of mental health services. We are a pilot site, partnering with NHS England and NHS Improvement to have a better understanding of the challenges Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities experience in mental health services This will help inform the development of a national framework referred as the Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework (PCREF), which was one of the key recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, and agreed by the government, published in December 2018.
What is a Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework?
Led by NHS England and NHS Improvement, the organisation that leads the NHS in England, the PCREF values the voices of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities’ lived experience in improving the way mental health services provide care. This includes making service more accessible to those in our community, culturally appropriate/responsive to our community’s values and better suited to meet the diverse needs of our community. This means that mental health services will involve you in decision making and work with you to identify solutions. This will help them to understand what steps they can take to achieve practical improvements. A critical part of developing the PCREF is learning from patients, carers and communities to make sure services are focussing on what matters to you. There will be opportunities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to give feedback when it’s in place.
How you can help develop the PCREF?
BSMHFT will in time have its own PCREF. This will provide an opportunity for patients, carers and communities to voice their experiences and help improve and develop better services in mental health. In turn this will further our work to make our services and systems fairer and challenging racism in all its forms. As a member of Team BSMHFT we would also like your views and ask you to help us reach as many people as possible, encouraging them to complete the feedback questionnaire by either scanning the QR code on the right, or requesting paper copies by replying to this email.
Feedback questionnaire: https://www.engage.england.nhs.uk/survey/aafa6e67/
Completing the feedback questionnaire should take you less than 15 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers, so please respond to the questions that best describe your experience and views. Taking part in the feedback questionnaire is voluntary and, whether you participate or not, it will not impact care for you or your relatives in any way. Your information will be kept confidential.
Thank you very much for giving some of your time to help us to improve mental health.
