Citizens Advice Rushmoor

Supporting the Nepali community to access timely health care

Located in Rushmoor we have always strived to ensure that our advice and support can be accessed by all members of the community. Our wider “Overcoming Barriers” group, made up of a number of local partner organisations including the local Primary Care Networks meets regularly to develop ideas to support everyone in our local area.  The Overcoming Barriers group has resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback, and has quickly become recognised as a valued resource.

Through the work of this group and with the support of Innovation Funding, we are creating a shared, open, electronic library of Nepali language resources for anyone to access and share.  The resources focus on helping people to access the NHS service they need at the correct entry point. We want to overcome identified barriers to help Nepali people to access interpreter services on NHS 111 and similar, independently, without needing someone by their side for assistance.

Our first project was a video to support people in accessing NHS 111 and you can view it HERE

Also take a look at the other resources we have available on our YouTube channel to support Nepali speakers

Our continuing commitment to delivering services to the Nepali community will ensure the resources produced will be well used, both within Citizens Advice Rushmoor, and shared with our key partners.  Our work with the NHS, the Cambridge Practice, Aldershot and others in the Primary Care Network, will help ensure that it is tailored to future as well as current needs.  We are also working with Rushmoor Borough Council led initiatives to better reach local residents in Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs); feedback from this initiative will help inform how we move forward in other activities to reach vulnerable residents unable to access mainstream services. The resources that we develop will remain as a community asset which can be shared after the project ends.

We were please to be featured in the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group's 2021 Annual General Meeting video which showcased community projects having a big impact on local people's health and wellbeing. This was in connection with another project we support - Project Together. You can find us 4mins 24 into the video HERE

As demonstrated above, we already work closely with other key stakeholders in the community but we are keen to work with other community groups so the resources we develop can be shared widely and adapted for different community groups.

See what other advice Citizens Advice can offer by visiting our website

This project has also been made possible through the support of Hampshire County Council Public Health Team.