Mental health and barriers to accessing health services identified as top concerns for Haref Network members

Our Haref Network amplifies the voices of more than 90 community organisations working with ethnically minoritised communities in Newcastle and Gateshead. The Haref Network is at the heart of our work and drives our agenda for addressing health inequalities. Since April of this year, we have been listening to what the Haref Network has to say around health issues, and we have identified the top priorities that Haref will focus on in 2022/23.

The three most frequently mentioned priorities were:

Mental health and wellbeing: Haref Network members told us about their concerns around poor mental health in their communities, people who have limited access to mental health services and who often face long waitlists, and people who experience a lack of culturally appropriate care.

Pressure of mental health needs on voluntary and community organisations: VCSE (voluntary, community and social enterprise) organisations are sometimes the only places offering consistent and accessible support to people around mental health and many organisations told us they are feeling overwhelmed by the demand for their services.

General access to healthcare: Haref Network members talked about the barriers that people in their communities often face when trying to register at a GP and make GP appointments. Many people also find it difficult to navigate the NHS and choose an appropriate service, and a lack of culturally appropriate health services causes barriers to accessing them and anxiety around racism and discrimination in health services.

Other priorities identified by the Haref Network included specific health concerns for refugees and asylum seekers, such as accessing services, travel costs and NHS charging. A lack of interpreters and staff understanding people’s rights to an interpreter was raised, and people spoke specifically about difficulties in accessing dental services. There was wider discussion about exercise and the social determinants of health, such as the cost of living, access to healthy food, employment and accommodation. The majority of groups who took part in our research also requested health information sessions, clear health messaging or improved relationships with health services.

 

Our priorities for 2022/23

At our June 2022 Haref Network meeting, we confirmed the four key work areas that Haref will focus on for 2022/23 are:

• Mental health
• Health information on accessing services/ health information sessions
• Asylum-seeker/refugee health care
• Interpreters/translator provision in health services

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The next steps

Haref has shared these findings with the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) for the North East and North Cumbria, Public Health teams and Primary Care Networks in Newcastle and Gateshead. We want to ensure the voices of local diverse communities are heard by health providers about these pressing health concerns.

The findings are also being shared with our Haref Allies (representatives from health and wellbeing services who support our aims). We will continue to work in collaboration with our Haref Allies to develop innovative ways to improve and change service delivery, and to produce health information that is relevant and useful for our local communities.

Haref is also facilitating effective health information sessions for the Haref Network and we are running a ‘good practice’ session with the Haref Allies. We have already facilitated health information sessions around ‘Navigating the NHS,’ diabetes, mental health awareness, healthy relationships, Vaccines and COVID-19 support.

We have developed a leaflet in a partnership with the North East Ambulance Service on how to use 999/11 services and how to ask for an interpreter, and we are now developing information and resources about how to access an interpreter in NHS settings such as GPs, Pharmacies, A and E and urgent treatment centres.

We have refreshed our Cultural Competency training for 2022 and offer paid-for bespoke training for services that aren’t eligible for the free funded sessions. This includes health and wellbeing services outside of Newcastle, sessions for entire teams / departments and other services that would like to be more culturally competent.