The refugee community and access to health and wellbeing services in Lewisham
Download (PDF 907.85 KB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Lewisham held a focus group with refugees from the Chinese and African communities, in 2016, gathering their views on health services in Lewisham.
This work was done as part of an engagement programme on the access of minority communities to health services in Lewisham.
The report identified a number of key issues. Booking GP appointments was difficult, particularly when a child needs to be seen by a GP. Many respondents went to A&E as a result of not having access to a GP. The length of GP appointments was also seen as short, not sufficient or patients were dismissed to raise all health concerns during the appointment. Staff attitude was also an issue. GP were seen as ‘not good listeners’, while receptions were seen as ‘rude’. Seeing different GPs for the same issue or patient was also problematic. A&E and ambulance services were generally dismissive of the respondents’ calls or concerns when they attempted the services. Translation services were of good quality and available whenever it was needed, with some respondents had access to face-to-face translation which was valuable. There was interest in increasing access to psychological therapy, and providing annual health checks for refugees.
The report made the following recommendations:
• Improve access to GP services including improving access to urgent appointments and improving booking systems. Consideration should be given to refugees, people with communication barriers and children.
• Make appointments with a named GP more readily available.
• Increase the length of appointments where necessary to allow safe and effective diagnosis and treatment.
• Improve staff attitudes towards patients by increasing the emphasis on listening to the patient, and by taking time to understand the community members.
• Provide appropriate training for front line reception staff and clinical staff to enable improved communication, cultural awareness and health inequalities faced by minority groups and refugees.
• Increase the provision of information for seldom heard groups including the refugees on provision of and access to local services.