Learning from Covid by building trust
Background
The Covid-19 pandemic both increased health inequality and shone a spotlight on it.
It revealed that black and Asian communities in particular were reluctant to take the Covid vaccine due to a long-standing lack of trust in the healthcare system as a result of their lived experience.
We need health and care services that work equally for everyone and in which everyone feels confident.
That means taking a new approach towards shaping and providing healthcare, with residents, community groups, the NHS and councils working in real collaboration.
Not yet another report but real action.
Building Trust project in H&F
This is why, in Hammersmith & Fulham, the council has instigated a Building Trust project with local residents, community groups and NHS North-West London.
Beginning with black residents, local people will tell their stories face-to-face to those in the NHS and council who plan and provide our local health and care services – people in positions of authority who have the power to change things for the better.
The aim is for these sessions, which are being led by the borough's voluntary and community sector, to create a shared understanding of how difficult issues like structural racism and poverty affect residents' experiences of health and care services and the outcomes they get.
The next step will be to make the improvements needed, with residents and the people who run local health and care services genuinely co-producing this.
The outcome should be better services for everyone, leading to greater trust in the health and care system by people who currently feel less well treated as a result of their background.
Cllr Ben Coleman, Deputy Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council
Listening events
Community groups and local organisations have been running listening events throughout June and July. Here is a list of the upcoming listening events in H&F:
September 2023
Friday 15 September – 1.30pm-4pm
SOBUS
The Dawes Road Hub, 20 Dawes Road, SW6 7EN
Friday 22 September – 1pm-4pm
Age UK
105 Greyhound Road, W6 8NJ
Tuesday 26 September – 11.30am-2pm
NAZ and Turning Point
30 Blacks Road, W6 9DT
Tuesday 26 September – 5pm-8pm
ASE
The Westworks, 195 Wood Lane, W12 7FQ
Need more information?
Please contact Sam Lewis at samuel.lewis@lbhf.gov.uk or call 07788 416 386.
