The experiences of Shropshire’s Romany, Gypsy and Traveller community use of local health services.

Healthwatch Shropshire recognised that they knew very little about the experiences of the Romany, Gypsy and Traveler community use of local health services. With the cooperation of Shropshire Council’s Gypsy Liaison Officer and Advisory Teacher for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children 11 families were visited across different sites in the County.

It was found that where a person lived was a major contributor as to their experiences of health services. Overall, those families who lived on a permanent site with a postal code address were registered with local GP practices and NHS denistry and satisfied with the support they received.

However, several sites were unofficial, hard to access, temporary with restricted communication. This made it very difficult for health services, even 999 ambulance, to access and for people to visit local health services.

A further issue was common for those families who traveled and would only stay on a site for several months. It was almost impossible to register with a GP practice or dentist, letters could not be delivered and formal records were not transferred from one area to another.

Where specific support was provided such as community nurses, health visitors and midwifes families were very positive about the support they received but, again, the travelling families experienced a much poorer service.

The purpose of the report is to add to the gaps in knowledge of people's experiences of health services.