Black, Minority and Ethnic access to health and social care

In 2015 Healthwatch Cornwall conducted research to collect feedback from black, minority and ethnic (BME) patients on their experiences with different health and social care services. The team also received information from professionals. They collected feedback from 50 participants in total. The report noted that it would be beneficial to obtain feedback from a larger group of people.

The report noted that 62% of the comments received were positive. In the report, 8 different trends were identified. These were general comment, booking, registration, support, timing, language, quality, security/conduct, and staff attitude. The trend that received the most relative negative comments was language with a focus on ineffective communication. The trend that received the most positive comments relatively was quality with many respondents commenting that they were happy with the quality of their care.

The report made 3 recommendations, with a focus on ensuring there is adequate time to accommodate differences in language when the patient does not speak English as their first language. The report also indicated that it would be beneficial to conduct further focused work.