Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF)

We aim to achieve this by focusing on:

Leadership and governance

Our trust's board will be leading on establishing and monitoring concrete plans of action to reduce health inequalities. Our Chief Operating Officer, Iain Dimond, will lead our efforts to ensure that our senior leaders guide and monitor how we reduce health inequalities. This involves setting clear goals, tracking our progress, and ensuring we are transparent and accountable in everything we do.

Organisational competencies

We’re committed to developing the skills and practices within our organisation to effectively address racial inequalities, this includes:

• Cultural Awareness: Training our staff to understand and respect different cultural backgrounds.
• Inclusive Practices: Ensuring that our policies and services are fair and accessible to everyone.
• Community Collaboration: Working closely with local communities to develop solutions that work for them.

Listening to feedback

Visible and effective ways for patients and carers to feedback will be established, as well as clear processes to act and report on that feedback. This will include getting your feedback in different ways, from focusing on community engagement, patient satisfaction surveys, focus groups, compliments and complaints.

We’re integrating the principles of PCREF into everything we do, to ensure that our mental health services are fair and of high quality, and align with our Building Fairer Oxleas Services (BFOS) strategy. 

Our approach includes:

Listening to your experiences: Especially those who have had interactions with the criminal justice system, are under the Mental Health Act, or have experienced the use of force in in-patient settings.

Advance choice directives: We will document and regularly review your treatment preferences, especially for patients and carers from diverse backgrounds.

Monitoring and accountability: We’ll track and report data on detentions under the Mental Health Act and the use of restraints to ensure everyone is treated fairly.

PCREF is essential because it helps us address important health disparities, such as:

Reducing restraints: Black individuals are more likely to be restrained in hospitals. We’re committed to changing this.

Perinatal mental health: Black women experience significantly higher rates of mental distress during and after pregnancy. They are also less likely to seek support for these mental health challenges, which is why we are focusing on improving access to care and support for Black mothers.

Improving access: Some communities, like the traveller community, often struggle to access the health services they need. We’re working to remove these barriers.

Enhancing recovery rates: Certain groups, like our local Muslim communities, have lower recovery rates for talking therapies, and we’re dedicated to improving these outcomes.

We’re working on several projects to better serve our diverse communities, including:

Patient and carer shadow board: We’re creating a board to receive ongoing feedback from patients and carers.

Mental health hubs: We’re developing hubs with local charities to make it easier to access mental health services.

Support groups: We’re setting up groups tailored to the needs of different communities, including LGBT individuals, the traveller community and those with learning disabilities.

Improving access and outcomes: We’re focusing on better recovery rates and treatment outcomes, particularly within the local Muslim community.

Your insights are vital to shaping the future of our services.

We need your help to make these changes happen. If you or someone you care for has experienced any of these issues and comes from an ethnic/global majority background, we’d love for you to join our Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework Action Group. 

Share your experience: Tell us about what’s happening and what needs to change.
Get involved: Take part in our workshops, events, and meetings to help shape our direction. Lend your time and expertise to help us achieve our goals.

Contact Us

If you’re interested in getting involved or want to learn more, please contact Tafadzwa Marapara, our Lead for PCREF and Service User Equalities:

Email: oxl-tr.equalityandhumanrights@nhs.net
Phone: 07767 587286