In this section...

  1. How we make decisions
  2. Our priorities
  3. Policies and procedures
  4. What we spend and how we spend it
  5. Who we are and what we do
  6. Work for us

Patient and Carer Race Equality

The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is NHS England's anti-racism framework.

The framework was a recommendation following the national Mental Health Act Review in 2018. It aims to end the disparity in access, experience, and outcomes faced by Black communities. It also aims to improve their trust and confidence in mental health services.

The framework has 3 parts:

  1. Legislative and regulatory obligations (leadership and governance).
  2. National organisational competencies.
  3. Patient and carers' feedback mechanism.

Implementing the framework is mandatory. This means we must have a Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework. It will form part of our Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections.

The framework helps NHS trusts and service providers improve services for people from diverse, ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds.

It is an ambitious and transformative programme with partnership working at its heart.

What does the framework mean in practice?

We want people from racialised communities to feel more involved in the Trust. They should be able to see opportunities to work with us, and to develop and review our plans.

They will feel their voice is heard across the Trust. They will know they are being listened to because they will be able to see the changes we make. Our Board of Directors will monitor our planned actions to reduce health inequalities.

We will better tailor our services to the needs of the community.

Feedback

People will know how to give feedback. They will feel comfortable and confident to do so. We will have clear processes to act and report on feedback.

We recognise people's experiences may depend on their race and background. We will create solutions to address racism and racial inequality.

Data

We will share new data on how we have reduced health inequalities. We will also share details on ethnicity from our existing data. We will look at data and review feedback to make continual improvements to services.

Get involved and share your experiences

If you would like to get involved and learn more, we welcome:

  • Black community members and organisations
  • patients, carers and families
  • staff
  • community and voluntary organisations
  • support networks

We will work with you to develop our framework.

We want to hear about your experience of ethnicity, culture, and mental health.

Email the Patient Experience Team

We understand you may want to share experiences or ideas related to aspects of the framework without disclosing who you are. We are working on a feedback form and will update you when this is live.

Our framework improvement plan

We will work with the voluntary community and social enterprise sectors that provide support to the NHS. We will work also with members of the community.

This will help community voices to be heard in the delivery of services and development of our strategies.

Our Board of Directors will approve our plan.

We will co-produce all improvements with our communities and staff. We will share regular updates.

Email our Head of Patient Experience and Engagement to discuss our framework.