Improving Black, Asian and minority ethnic community experiences of mental health services

NHS England and NHS Improvement national mental health team is holding a series of webinars for patients, carers, health leaders, decision-makers, and senior clinical managers to discuss ways to improve experiences and outcomes of care for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) patients and carers in mental health services. This will help inform the development of the Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework (PCREF), which was one of the key recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act agreed by the government.

There are two webinars in this series for patients and carers taking place at the following times:

About these webinars

NHS England and NHS Improvement recently published its first Advancing Mental Health Equalities Strategy which sets out the actions the NHS will take to reduce inequalities in mental health.

The PCREF is an important part of this strategy, as it will be used to support NHS Trusts to improve Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) experiences of care in mental health services.

In addition, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities and global movements to address systemic racism have brought longstanding inequalities to the surface. It’s more important than ever for mental health services to provide good experiences of care for BAME communities.

The commitments set out in the strategy will enable us to work directly with ethnically diverse groups, to make sure their experience and feedback drive the changes we aim to implement within our services. Learning from people with lived experience, and coproduction, are critical in developing and rolling-out the PCREF.

Studies show that Black men are far more likely than others to be diagnosed with severe mental health problems, but uptake of services from this community is still very low. Working closely with patients and carers, NHS staff and providers of mental health services to understand their experiences will lead to the shaping of services that better respond to their needs. We have a major opportunity to address the inequalities experienced by this group and other groups whom have identities intersecting with race.

Each webinar will include speakers from the national mental health team, including Dr Jacqui Dyer – NHS England and NHS Improvement’s Equalities Adviser and the team leading the mental health equalities programme, our experts by experience plus examples from our PCREF pilot partners.

If you have questions about this webinar, please contact england.mentalhealthpmo@nhs.net