Access to Care

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) commissioned us to support delivery of a continuous programme of engagement to hear the experiences of people accessing a named health and/or social care service from black and minority ethnic communities (including asylum seekers and refugees) who are more likely to have poorer care and people made vulnerable by their circumstance.

We engaged with 6 community organisations who were providing a range of support services for individuals from minority ethnic backgrounds, primarily offering English language and computer classes, as well as social and lifestyle activities. We worked work with the community leaders to attend groups that were already taking place, this meant the respondents were able to speak to us in an environment they felt comfortable and we were able to have access to translation where needed. 

In total we spoke with 44 Surrey residents for whom English is a second language, 11 of whom were refugees / Asylum seekers.

We shared our findings with CQC in a full report which identified key findings around barriers to access. These included the lack of face-to-face appointments, access to translators, online access and the pandemic meaning vital family support for translation in appointments being restricted. We also shared our recommendations and reflections on a continuous model of engagement.