Agenda item

4.1    Folake Segun (Director, Healthwatch Lewisham and Bromley) introduced the report. The following key points were noted:

·      Healthwatch has undertaken a piece of work to look at access to health and wellbeing services for members of the Vietnamese community in Lewisham. This work took place over the course of two months.

·      The report details the conclusions of this work. Many instances of good practice were recorded, where GPs were helpful and many members of the community felt they received the care they needed.

·      There were also concerns recorded about the quality of the interpretation services offered. Some interpreters may have expertise in conversations around immigration issues, but not medical issues which had an impact on the quality of care.

·      Some individuals were not aware of the medical landscape so found it difficult to know where to go to get the care they needed. Lewisham CCG has been made aware of this report and has taken steps to engage with the Vietnamese community to understand their concerns better.

·      Vietnamese is the third most requested language from interpretation services in Lewisham. Healthwatch is also working with the Polish community to identify any problems they may have in accessing health and care services, but that report has not been written yet.

4.2    The Committee made a number of comments. The following key points were noted:

·      The Committee expressed concern about some of the quality of interpretation services described in the report. There was particular concern that some interpreters may not have the medical vocabulary necessary to ensure that information about medical conditions was conveyed accurately and understood by the patient.

·      The Committee raised concerns that it may not be appropriate for residents to have to rely on friends or family members to provide translation services for them. Some conversations around health and wellbeing may not be appropriate to be shared with family members and friends, especially when the person providing the translation is a child, but also because there can be issues around confidentiality. In addition, a lay individual may not be able to convey medical information in the right words or with the right tone, which means people may leave medical appointments without the necessary information about their health. 

·      The Committee agreed that it can be difficult to book a timely appointment with a GP but noted that these problems of access seem to apply to residents across Lewisham and not only members of the Vietnamese community.

·      The Committee agreed that it was important that eligibility criteria for interpreting services are clarified and published among Lewisham residents.

·      The Committee suggested that one method that may help GPs in communicating with residents that do not speak English would be to provide a series of documents that provides information about medical conditions in both English and the languages most commonly spoken in Lewisham aside from English. GPs and patients could use this document to point to during appointments. The document would contain the names of common medical conditions, a description of the most common symptoms, a description of the most commonly prescribed treatment options and appropriate advice on lifestyle choices. Information already provided on NHS websites could be used as the basis for such documents.

4.3    RESOLVED: that the Committee noted the report and that the Committee’s comments in paragraph 4.2 be sent to Healthwatch Lewisham and Bromley as a response to their report.