Roma and Travellers
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Healthwatch Luton created a survey to understand the health and social care experiences of Roma and Irish/English traveling communities. They circulated it via other organisations including One Voice Travellers, Roma Trust, and Humanitas to collect the information. From the 10 responses they received, Healthwatch Luton found that illiteracy and language barriers were big issues faced by this group when visiting GPs. Individuals from this community often felt stereotyped by hospital staff due to lack of their ethnic cultural awareness amongst the care professionals. The cost of treatment and lack of registration also acted as barriers to accessing services for many respondents. Following this, Healthwatch Luton plans to to embark on on a programme of cultural awareness for the professionals in Luton, to ensure they understand the needs of Roma and Travellers.