Community Research Report: Experiences of Romanian People Living in Brent
Download (PDF 1.88 MB)Summary of report content
Healthwatch Brent undertook research on the experiences of Romanian people accessing care in Brent. In total, they heard from 50 people.
Key findings:
• All participants were registered with a GP, and the majority (44/50) were registered with a dental practice.
• The majority of participants were satisfied with primary care services (31/50), giving neutral or positive ratings. However, this left a sizable minority (19 respondents) who had issues with services.
• The majority of patients were also satisfied with secondary care services.
• Most of the issues reported reflected the same wider concerns being faced by many different community groups across Brent. In particular, patients noted a lack of available appointments and long waiting times (11 responses).
• All of the research was conducted in Romanian, and we identified some issues with access to interpreters and translated materials. 14 people responded that they had to request interpreting or translation, and in 12 cases people shared that they had requested an interpreter but not been provided with one. In addition, 3 people told us they were not aware that the service was available.
• The biggest area of concern was lack of information provided about care and treatment. 21 people responded that they did not receive enough information from health services. In addition, 22 people said they were not sure if they were able to trust information from their GPs.
• A significant minority of respondents – 20 people – noted that they have chosen to either go abroad or access private healthcare rather than using NHS services.
The report includes three recommendations.