We want to ensure that all our patients have access to the right care in the right place at the right time. This means making sure that everyone understands the range of services available in order to decide what best meets their needs.
Many patients with protected characteristics can experience barriers to receiving the care they need. These include a lack of accessible information explaining the emergency care system, difficulties understanding and working their way through the appointments system and problems managing online or telephone support.
A&E departments are often the only service people are aware of that they can walk into to get help when they are worried and in pain. This means that they are often in the wrong place to get the proper care for their ailment. It is therefore vital to provide accessible information and routes to care for those who don’t know the system.
Working with protected characteristic groups
We are liaising with our emergency departments and charities to create opportunities to engage directly with protected characteristic groups. We will work with them to –
- Create accessible resources that describe routes into our services and the alternatives to emergency care
- Capture people’s experiences of accessing the right care in the right place to use as case studies
- Help us support our emergency services to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics