Action plan 2025 - 2027
What is PCREF?
The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is a national NHS program that helps mental health services become fairer, more culturally aware, and more responsive to the needs of racialised, ethnically and culturally diverse communities.
PCREF puts patients, carers and communities at the centre of how we design and improve our services.
Why It Matters
We know that people from different communities can have unequal experiences when using mental health services. PCREF helps us:
- Improve access
- Improve trust
- Improve safety
- Improve outcomes
- Listen and act on what communities tell us
What We've Done So Far
Stronger leadership
- A senior leader now oversees all PCREF work.
- A PCREF Steering Group is in place - including people with lived experience.
Better support for staff
- Staff receive training on cultural competence, civility and respect, trauma informed care and PCREF.
- Our EMBrace staff network promotes inclusion and challenges racism.
Listening to communities
- We have mapped current feedback routes to identify gaps.
- We are working closely with local community and voluntary organisations.
- More people with lived experience are helping shape our work.
Our Priorities for 2025-2026
Putting fairness at the heart of services
- Improve how services record and use equity data.
- Use our Equity Dashboard to track access, experience and outcomes by ethnicity.
- Include PCREF in all service-level quality and improvement plans.
Building culturally responsive care
- Review how we respond to racism and strengthen our policies.
- Improve use of interpreters and translated materials.
- Work with staff networks to improve wellbeing and career opportunities for ethnically diverse staff.
Hearing more voices
- Strengthening community partnerships.
- Support community champions to share insights.
- Publish our progress every year.
- Launch an accessible PCREF webpage (plain English and easy read versions).
Our Priorities for 2026-2027
Independent review
- We will commission a full independent evaluation, led by local communities.
Better data for better care
- Improve recording of communication and interpretation needs.
- Expand our public reporting on equity data.
- Continue annual equality impact assessments.
Embedding lived experience
- Make patient reported outcome measures part of routine service reporting.
- Work with community organisations and advocacy services to share insights.
- Improve how we communicate about progress - using local community channels, not just websites.
Working with Communities
We will continue to:
- Partner with voluntary, faith, and community groups
- Co produce improvements with racialised and culturally diverse communities
- Support carers and families to influence change
- Strengthen trust through transparency and open conversations
What this means for you?
Our goal is for every person to experience:
- Fair and equal access to mental health care
- Respectful and culturally aware treatment
- Shared decision-making
- A clear voice in shaping services
- Trust, safety and dignity
Want to Learn More or Get Involved?
If you would like more information about PCREF, or want to take part in co production activities connected to this program of work please contact:
- Tel: 0800 052 1415
- Email: involvement@nottshc.nhs.uk
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