The Somali community in Hackney and their experience of health and care services
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This research into the experiences of the Somali community in Hackney is borne out of an awareness that the community experience particular challenges in accessing health and social care and other support services, including complaining to the NHS.
To complete this research, Healthwatch Hackney worked in partnership with local community organisation, Connecting All Communities, to interview and survey community members.
The majority of participants were between 30 to 60 years old. In addition, men were underrepresented, completing only 9% of the surveys. In total, Healthwatch Hackney heard from 32 people in the Somali community about their experiences of health and care services.
A high number of interviewees reported it was impossible or difficult to access services. For all services apart from the GP, over 50% of respondents said it was either not easy or not possible for them to access the service.
60% of respondents said they experienced a language barrier when accessing services, 34% experienced no problems.
12participants reported they do not use health or care services as “No available interpreters were offered/available”, and 11 cited a “lack of trust”.
Healthwatch Hackney made 9 recommendations in this report.