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Building fairer oxleas services seeks to place service users and carers at the heart of service development and delivery by:

• enhancing co-production with these important stakeholders;
• positively improving outcomes;
• addressing discrimination.  

This will help us at Oxleas to create responsive services where difference is valued and to foster a culture of respect and understanding.

The aims of the first three years of our strategy are to:

• use improved internal data to understand better who is using our services;
• identify gaps in the services we provide or access to them and address these inequalities;
• deliver the patient and carer race equality framework in mental health.

To help us deliver this, we have established five workstreams:

1. Improving use and collection of data: working to improve internal data collection methods and analysis to ensure accurate and comprehensive understanding of service user demographics and needs.
2. Improving equity of access: working to ensure equitable access to everyone and to address any barriers identified.
3. Improving equity of experience: working to enhance co-production with service users to help strengthen our service offer;  positively address identified disparities in patient experience for people from different communities and with different protected characteristics.
4. Improving equity of outcomes: working to develop outcome measures that incorporate protected characteristics, monitor progress, and ensure equitable outcomes for all individuals.
5. Supporting staff to deliver inclusive care: providing training, resources, and support to our staff, promoting cultural awareness, anti-racism, and promoting an environment where difference is valued.

As part of our Building Fairer Oxleas Services work, we are implementing the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF). This is a national approach to improve our understanding of the communities we serve and to make our mental health services more accessible. Information on the approach is available at NHS England » Patient and carer race equality framework.

We are implementing it at Oxleas and it will help us to:

• Empower ethnically diverse communities
• Raise the bar on service excellence
• Put accountability into action

Research shows we need to tackle:

• overrepresentation in the criminal justice system
• disproportionate detention rates
• higher use of restrictive interventions
• limited access to Talking Therapies
• diagnosis and hospitalization disparities

For more information on building fairer Oxleas services or to get involved, contact us:

oxl-tr.equalityandhumanrights@nhs.net

Key leads:

• Iain Dimond, Chief Operating Officer/Executive lead
• Juliana Frederick-James, Head of Equality and Human Rights
• Tafadzwa Marapara, Lead for PCREF and Service User Health Inequalities