NHS Sussex commissioned SIS to contribute to the second phase of insight gathering to find out “What do Women in Sussex want from Women’s Health Services?”. An Arabic Speaking SIS Bilingual Community Researcher (BCR) interviewed 5 Arabic Speaking Service Users to help give a voice to women and girls with language needs. Their contribution has been put together in a full report which will inform the development of the NHS Sussex Women’s Health Implementation Plan. A video conveying the results was created and launched on International Women’s Day.
The SIS Arabic Speaking Bilingual Community Researcher (BCR) used a guided conversation to explore
• what matters most to our Service Users in terms of their health and wellbeing
• their experience of accessing services including barriers, enablers and satisfaction levels
• their opinion about what NHS Sussex should prioritise in their planning
The Arabic speakers were largely satisfied with the care they received from a range of NHS services including from their GP, from cancer screening programmes and healthy lifestyle services, with one commenting that things were much better than in her home country.
The main changes that participants would like to see are:
translations of information about health conditions and appointment letters
I have seen many health professionals giving or suggesting additional information through online links or on a printed support. When they know this is available they also provide it in Arabic. I hope this is the practice everywhere.
improved health education and information and healthy lifestyles
Thinking of my daughters, I would like them to be informed about services, especially contraception, before they need to access it. Either through the school nurse or in information session at the surgery.
boys and men should be educated about women’s health issues
If boys and men are educated on women’s health, this will help them to understand and support better their sisters, wives, mothers or any female family member.
issues relating to periods e.g. irregular or heavy bleeding and paid, being taken more seriously
I suffer from regular period pain which was diagnosed as normal by the GP and not investigated. Growing up, I was always suffering from period pain. I never understood why I should suffer every month. I wish if there were information available on anything which could help a part from taking pain killers, like alternative medicine, diet etc
language or gender based healthy lifestyle sessions e.g. sports, activities, briefings
It will be good if women have easy access to more groups or sport activities within their community, with support in Arabic, to help with their healthy living.
reduced waiting times for appointments with specialist services
Please improve the waiting time and offer more alternative treatments while waiting for appointments with specialists
The summary findings are being translated into Arabic for the participants.
The full SIS report can be read here.
