NHSGGC wants to work in partnership with patients, learning from patients’ lived experiences.
We want to ensure that all voices are heard. The Equalities & Human Rights Team’s patient involvement activities therefore specifically engage with people with protected characteristics and other groups that experience discrimination.
People’s experience of inequalities and discrimination impact upon their health, how they engage with health services and manage their health problems. By engaging with communities and responding to feedback we can improve everyone’s experience of NHSGGC services. This work will also inform our equality outcomes and actions for the future.
The Equality and Human Rights Team also work closely with the Patient Experience Public Involvement Team to help reach and engage with all our communities.
Involving Patients and Members of the Public
We consult with a variety of patient groups depending on the area of work. For example –
Disability Access – our Disability Access Patient Group, made up help us investigate and audit the factors affecting disabled people’s access to our buildings and services
Learning Disability – we work in partnership with a number of organisations supporting people with a learning disability and are members of The Life I Want Health Group, a partnership forum made up of 3rd sector services.
Black and Minority Ethnic Communities – our engagement is constantly being developed and delivered with a range of 3rd sector organisations working with BME communities. This has informed our work to ensure communities have access to health information and that our services are delivered in ways which ensure access for all communities.
The Deaf Community – feedback is sought from the deaf community on a range of issues, including the BSL National Plan, our Interpreting services and access to NHSGGC services. The BSL Health Champions – volunteers from the Deaf BSL community – work with us to achieve this and group meetings are open to any Deaf BSL user who lives in the NHSGGC area. The group also has a Facebook page which is used to share information and to get feedback from the BSL community.
Engagement as a consequence of COVID-19
Engaging with specific patient groups has been crucial in helping us understand the barriers communities can face when trying to access the necessary advice and information regarding Covid-19.
Feedback from these communities has helped us target our communications and identify the most effective ways to reach people.
Examples of this work include –
- From October 2020 – March 2021, twenty-three separate COVID-19 information sessions were held to address identified issues for the Black & Minority Ethnic communities
- In February/March 2021 twenty-five COVID-19 Vaccination community group sessions were run
- Information on the COVID-19 vaccines was shared via targeted social media channels, including religious organisations and sent to all Mosques in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
- Person-Centred Virtual Visiting (PCVV) was introduced across all NHSGGC hospitals in March 2020 to allow all patients access to technology specially set up to enable them to see and talk to the people who matter to them during COVID-19 visiting restrictions.
- We disseminated easy read COVID-19 information to all learning disability organisations and generic disability organisations.