Barriers To Accessing NHS Services

8 April 2025

The NHS is on a mission to digitise services and create new patient pathways. In 2019, the NHS app was launched, and in January 2024, the Self-Care Medicines Scheme (SCMS) was born. Yet people remain unaware of or aren't using these new initiatives.

We've partnered with five local organisations: Dalmar Heritage and Family Development, Polish and Eastern European Christian Centre, Sewn Together, and the Turkish Cypriot Women's Project, to deliver events that uncover the barriers people face when accessing services and taking up vaccinations.

To understand the Somalian Community's issues, we partnered with Dalmar Heritage Family Development and guest speaker Dr. Abdifatah Mohamed of the British Somalian Medical Association.

It was clear that the problems were widespread. People told us that they were concerned about whether the MMR vaccine is halal, and expressed fears about vaccines causing autism. Many attendees also shared that they didn’t understand the different roles in primary care, such as physician associates or social prescribers. Others shared they were more confident in the care they received in A&E as opposed to from their GP, a feeling shared by many in the room.

Frustrations were also shared about services, with one woman saying:

“When I walk into the pharmacy, they often say they can't help me. In Somali culture, there's a strong emphasis on acting quickly, especially if someone is visibly unwell, as it is better to be safe. How can I wait at home until an appointment next week when my child is crying from ear pain?”

Language barriers were also clearly a problem when understanding health messages. This was brought home when, after Dr Abdi had explained about MMR one woman had a powerful realisation:

“Had I known ‘MMR’ included the disease my relatives died from in Mogadishu, I would never have hesitated in having my child vaccinated.”

The session clearly outlined the Somalian community's barriers to accessing different primary care services and the reasons behind vaccine hesitancy. In Haringey, 180 languages are spoken, so this event only reinforces the need for the NHS to offer health messaging in different languages that meet the needs of the various different communities.