Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF)
Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF)
The Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is NHS England’s anti-racism framework for mental health services.
It aims to improve access, experience and outcomes for people from racialised and ethnically diverse communities by ensuring services work in partnership with service users, carers and communities to address inequalities in mental health care.
At the North London NHS Foundation Trust, PCREF supports improvements across our services in Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Camden and Islington.
If you have any questions on PCREF, please email: nlft.PCREF@nhs.net
How PCREF shapes our work
PCREF helps us understand where inequalities exist and take action to improve services, and work together with communities to make meaningful improvements where things are not fair.
Our work focuses on:
- Listening to the experiences of service users and carers
- Working in partnership with Voluntary Community Sectors (VCS)
- Using data to understand inequalities in access and outcomes
- Improving cultural competence across services
- Embedding equity and anti-racism into everyday practice
Our work also keeps race equality visible in how we design, deliver and improve services in line with the NHS 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Working with our communities
The North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) serves diverse communities across five boroughs; Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Camden and Islington.
Through PCREF we work closely with
- Service users, carers and families from diverse communities
- People with lived experience of mental health services
- Voluntary Community Sector (VCS) organisations
- Faith and cultural groups
These partnerships help ensure services are shaped with communities, not for them.
The North London Way
Our organisational culture supports the delivery of PCREF every day.
We aim to ensure that:
- Staff treat people and each other with respect, curiosity and compassion
- Services are culturally aware and inclusive
- Concerns about fairness and safety are listened to and acted upon
- Communities are involved in shaping staff experience
Resources
Resources
New 2026 Report
The Centre for Mental Health is the UK’s leading independent mental health research charity, and was commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory (RHO) to produce a new major report.
Key findings show that racialised communities face disproportionate trauma from racism, and that services must be anti-racist and trauma informed. The report also calls for universal approaches backed by PCREF.
Read the full report: Trauma-informed care and racialised communities
Other useful national resources
- NHS England Patient and Carers Race Equality Framework
- Tackling inequalities in health and care - the NHS Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) - Patient Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF): Exploring the role of system partners in driving race equity in mental health
- NHS England’s Anti-Racism Framework | NHS RHO explainer
- NHS RHO podcast: Health inequalities
Get involved in PCREF
Service users, carers and organisations play an important role in shaping our PCREF work.
You can get involved by:
- Sharing your experiences of services
- Joining our PCREF Advisory Board
- Participating in engagement events and workshops
- Working with us through faith‑based and VCS organisations collaborate with us across our boroughs through our
- Staff at all levels contribute to race equality and anti‑racist practice through our Clinical Care Groups, our Anti-racism forum, and everyday work and improvement projects.
