Tackling Racial Inequalities in Mental Health Together | News and Events

We are delighted to share a new blog from Dr Jacqui Dyer titled “Hope, Progress and Accountability: Tackling Racial Inequalities in Mental Health Together”. Read the full blog here.

In her reflection, Dr Dyer continues to champion the work of the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) and the ongoing mission to address racial disparities in mental health. She highlights the progress made, the shared accountability we all hold, and the importance of sustained collaboration as we move forward.

Since 2020 NHS England has been working with GMMH and three other mental health trusts (Birmingham and Solihull, South London and Maudsley and East London) to pilot the PCREF across the country. A further six early adopters followed a year later, ahead of the national roll out in 2023.

The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework is the first national anti-racism framework for mental health services. The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework is now part of Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections. This will ensure that through this framework, we deliver safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led care for patients and carers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

PCREF matters because racial inequalities still exist for patients from racially marginalised communities, who access mental health services. These lived experiences magnify the importance of ensuring we deliver accessible, safe, effective and equitable care. 

There is a lot of work to do to improve access, experience and outcomes for patients and carers from racially marginalised communities. We will focus on three priority areas:  

A PCREF Data Working Group has been established to lead improvements in data quality, reporting and analysis. The group is developing a PCREF Data Dashboard to ensure our reporting is informed by accurate PCREF metrics. This will help identify and address racial disparities in patient access, experience and outcomes for racially marginalised communities.
 
Priority area 2 – Improve our insight into the lived experiences of racialised communities

On October 9th 2025, we arranged a workshop with Greater Manchester Reducing Racial Inequalities Communities in Practice group which consists of 24 VCFSE organisations and GM Sounding Boards (Pakistani Sounding Board, African and Caribbean Sounding Board). This session gathered vital lived experiences and insights to help us shape and co-produce local PCREF priorities.

Following this event, we have started a community engagement procurement process to commission VCFSE organisations to engage racialised communities across Manchester, Bolton, Salford, Trafford and Wigan. The findings from this work will directly inform the development of our PCREF plan 2026-2029.
 
Priority area 3 – Improve staff awareness of PCREF through our communications

The PCREF Communications and Engagement group has been launched to embed PCREF priorities across GMMH. The group is developing internal and external communication tools, to raise awareness, share learning and support staff understanding of PCREF’s purpose and impact.
 
For more information about PCREF contact:
Oyinkansola Ogunleye (Honey), who is our new PCREF Lead at GMMH. 
Get in touch and get involved. We would love to hear from you and are always welcoming new people to get involved with our PCREF plan. Please email us on: PCREF@gmmh.nhs.uk