This report details the actions taken by local health and social care services to tackle the issues revealed in our investigation into health inequalities in Birmingham’s Somali community.

25/01/2022
By Healthwatch Birmingham
Impact Reports 2022

Healthwatch Birmingham is committed to ensuring all the city’s diverse communities can access the best possible health and social care. Following our report into health inequalities in the Somali community, people from ethnic minority groups in Birmingham will benefit from improved engagement from health and social care services, greater involvement with the design and delivery of services and improved quality of care.

We engaged with health and social care services in the city to tackle the negative experiences, challenges and barriers people had told us about.

Improvements made include:

  • Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has recruited a Patient and Families Ambassador for Inclusion and Diversity to ensure staff have access to the latest information on equalities and inclusion. The trust has also included Somali specific cultural awareness training as part of a wider Cultural Insight project.
  • Black Country and West Birmingham NHS Clinical Commissioning Group has co-produced a cancer awareness video with people from the Somali community.
  • University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust held focus groups with Romanian and Urdu/Mirpuri speaking communities to improve the health information that the trust shares with them.
  • Birmingham City Council has begun running ESOL classes supporting women navigating public services, including healthcare.
  • Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust engaged participants from our study in its ‘Diabetes Project: Somali Community’ to gain better understanding of cultural factors which impact on diabetes management. The trust also involved participants in Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) Day 2021 activities informing young people about career opportunities within the NHS.
  • The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has translated PALS and complaints leaflets and posters into the top five languages spoken by patients.

Impact Report: Fighting health inequalities Download File (pdf 268.96 KB)

Healthwatch Birmingham is fantastic at breaking barriers for an area that is traditionally very difficult for secondary care providers to engage with. - Dr Jyoti Baharani, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Related Reports

Health Inequalities: Somali people’s experiences of health and social care services in Birmingham

‘Health Inequalities: Somali people’s experiences of health and social care services in Birmingham’ is based on interviews with members of the city’s Somali community, examining the challenges they face accessing health and social care services.

Investigations
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