RACE

• What Is Race?
• Race And Discrimination
• Why Race Matters To Health
• Race And Other Equality Groups
• How We Are Addressing Race Issues
• Support And Resources
• People's Experiences

How we are addressing race issues

In accordance with the law, NHSGGC has developed an Equality Scheme. This includes how the organisation will assess the impact of the measures it puts in place to ensure race equality for service users and staff.

Current areas of work include:

Interpreting service

Interpreting services address a number of risks for both service users and staff. For example, patients who have a limited understanding of Englsh:

• • may not be able to give informed consent
  • may not be able to ask questions or seek assistance
  • may not be aware of what services are available to them
  • may not be able to use medication properly or follow care plans
  • may come from cultures with different understandings of health and illness
  • may not understand how to use NHS services
  • may not understand their rights and responsibilities within the healthcare system
  .

Ensuring that everyone has an euqal opportunity to engage in the health care process benefits all concerned. In addition, equalities legislation stipulates that the organisation must be pro-active in ensuring that this is the case.

In October 2011, NHSGGC launched a new, in-house interpreting service which provides interpreters to NHS patients on request at any time day or night, 7 days a week.  The service is available to a wide range of service areas and departments, including hospital wards, outpatient clinics, medical practices, dental surgeries, pharmacies and opticians which are located throughout the NHSGGC geographic catchment area. 

Accessible Information Policy 

Effective information and communication are vital for the provision of high-quality services and care. Many of those who access services have difficulty understanding the information provided. An Accessible Information Policy has been produced to ensure that all informatiom can be made available in accessible languages and formats to meet the needs of the public.

A toolkit  for staff has been developed which helps to provide information and support in the development of accessible information for NHS patients, their carers and the public.

The toolkit aims to ensure that the material we develop is clear, consistent with NHSGGC guidance, concise, relevant, accurate and in everyday language.

Safe Use of Medicine

The Safer Use of Medicines Patient Group (SUM PG) was brought together to support NHSGGC in implementing the Safer Use of Medicines Strategy by helping the organisation understand the concerns, needs and expectations of patients and carers that relate to medicines.

In order to better reflect the diverse population of NHSGGC, it was agreed to undertake a focussed recruitment exercise with BME community groups. As a result, a number of discussion sessions were held  to encourage individuals to become members of the patient group. A number of issues were raised which the group will take forward for action, such as the anxiety caused by most information on medications and how to take them being in English.