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BBC News
20 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
No WiFi is 'health barrier' for Cumbrian ethnic minorities
A lack of wi-fi to use translate services to access basic health care services is one of the major barriers affecting ethnic minority communities in north and west Cumbria, according to a new Faisal Solkar told Cumberland Council's health and wellbeing board that "language barriers and trust issues" has lead to an overuse of accident and emergency among ethic minority Health Needs Assessment: Ethnic Minorities 2025 report also listed perception of care, navigation and awareness issues, service availability and service accessibility as other barriers. Dr Solkar, who carried out the research, said: "Language remains a significant barrier in health care." The report also stated the maternal mortality rate in black and mixed ethnicity groups was three times higher than in white communities. The five core recommendations in the report were: Improve communication and information accessExpand interpretation servicesRequire ethnicity data collection across all health and social care settingsIncrease access to preventative careAdopt patient-centred approachesIn addition, there were three supporting recommendations which were to introduce multi-lingual booking systems, provide digital access support and strengthen community engagement, the Local Democracy Reporting Service response to language barriers, Colin Cox, the council's director of public health, customer and community wellbeing, said the latest generation of iPhones had simultaneous translation apps."We've got that technology available to us and we've got to be investing in it," he Elaine Lynch suggested a pilot scheme could be introduced at a Carlisle medical practice to help tackle language noted the report and agreed the communication and translation pilot should be explored further. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cumbrian charity hosts suicide prevention conference at Rheged
A Cumbrian charity has hosted its first suicide prevention conference. Every Life Matters, a suicide prevention and bereavement support charity, held the event on April 3 at the Rheged Centre in Penrith. The conference was attended by 192 delegates who came to learn more about suicide prevention, self-harm, and suicide bereavement. A conference delegate participates in a workshop (Image: Supplied) The key messages of the day were "Be Kind, Be Brave and Give Hope" and "Take Action. Prevent Suicide." Delegates were encouraged to start conversations to help break down the stigma surrounding suicide and mental health, and to take action to prevent suicide within both their workplaces and communities. The conference was opened by Kate Bainbridge, co-founder of Every Life Matters and Cumbria Woman of the Year 2024. She was followed by a film of the Every Life Matters Young People Team, who spoke to delegates about their experience of bereavement by suicide and their own suicidal thoughts and self-harm. They urged delegates to take action and help break the stigma, to help create a society where suicide is openly spoken about. The conference was attended by 192 delegates (Image: Supplied) The young people's messages were followed by information and statistics from Colin Cox and Katrina Stephens, public health leads for Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness Councils, and an outline of the Cumbria Suicide Prevention Strategy. Juliet Gray and Chris Wood, Every Life Matters co-founders, talked about why "Suicide is Everyone's Business," telling delegates that everyone has a role to play in creating a society where suicide is openly talked about. Mr Wood, CEO and co-founder of Every Life Matters, said: "It was a privilege to be able to speak to a room full of motivated and caring people who will all go away with the tools and passion to make a difference within their workplaces and communities. He added "The day was a success thanks to the collaboration of speakers and organisations alongside the amazing team at Every Life Matters." The charity wants to make the conference an annual occurrence, and to continue to educate as many people as possible in suicide prevention and to raise awareness of the topic.
