PALS (patient advice and liaison service)

Tell us about your organisation/department/project (your aims, what you do, who you work with) PALS is a free, confidential, NHS information and advice service for patients, their families and carers, of all ages, covering all NHS organisations and services in Newcastle North Tyneside and Northumberland and (also including, for the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, the whole North East region).  PALS can help to sort out problems, find answers to questions and concerns and provide information and advice about NHS services.  We can help when people aren’t sure who to talk to, or would prefer to talk to someone not involved with their care.  We can also pass on comments, compliments and suggestions and explain the complaints process for NHS services. Where appropriate PALS can make referrals to NHS complaints teams.

 

Tell us why being a Haref Ally is important for you and your organisation

It is important that PALS is a service which is open to everyone who uses NHS services for themselves or their family. We want everyone to feel able to come to PALS and to feel comfortable using our service. By being a Haref Ally we are able to learn from other Allies, particularly about  making our service more accessible and welcoming. We also hope that Haref  Allies will let people know about PALS and explain our service

 

Tell us about anything that you or your organisation has done to improve how you work with ethnically minoritised communities

Being a Haref Ally is one thing PALS has done to improve our work, enabling us to find out more and learn from others. We also have processes in place to use interpreters when needed for people wishing to use PALS but also PALS is a point of contact for people who are having problems ensuring that interpreters are booked for appointments.

 

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