Advancing equity through PCREF

Our commitment to equitable, compassionate and community-led mental health care.

We want to improve the experiences and outcomes of people who use our services. The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is helping us do this.

Our Commitment

At Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SABP), we are committed to addressing racial inequalities in mental health care.

For us, PCREF is more than a programme. It is a long-term approach to co-production, transparency, and accountability.

What is PCREF?

PCREF is an NHS England initiative that helps mental health services:

  • Identify and address racial inequalities within services
  • Improve experiences and outcomes for patients, carers, and communities from racialised groups
  • Ensure services are shaped with communities, not simply for communities

At SABP, this work is helping us turn listening into action.

Find out more about PCREF on NHS England

What we’ve achieved so far

We have already taken important steps to embed PCREF across the Trust and we are using a quality improvement approach to support us in this piece of work.

  • Established governance arrangements aligned with Trust priorities

  • Put clear leadership and accountability arrangements in place

  • Embedded PCREF in wider improvement and transformation programmes

  • Commenced anti-racist work within our inpatient communities

  • Strengthened engagement with people who use our services, carers and community organisations.

  • Built partnerships with local organisations and stakeholders.

  • Gathered insight to better understand lived experiences of inequality.

  • Started to map inequalities across services.

  • Aligned PCREF with existing data and improvement work.

  • Raised awareness and understanding of PCREF across teams.

What’s next?

Our next phase is focused on deepening this work and making sure change is sustained.

  • Expand opportunities for community involvement.

  • Ensure lived experience shapes decisions at every level.

  • Strengthen how we collect and use race equity data.

  • Use insight to target and reduce inequalities in care and outcomes.

  • Integrate PCREF into everyday practice.

  • Support teams through guidance, tools and training.

  • Define meaningful measures of success.

  • Report progress openly and transparently.

Why this matters

We know that people from racialised communities may experience:

  • Inequalities in access to care
  • Poorer experiences and outcomes
  • A lack of trust in services

PCREF gives us an important opportunity to build trust, improve equity, and create meaningful, lasting change.

Our approach

Our work is guided by four core principles:

  • Collaborative – working in partnership with communities and staff
  • Transparent – open about progress and challenges
  • Accountable – committed to measurable improvement
  • Ambitious – focused on long-term transformation

Get involved

We welcome the involvement of people who use our services, carers, community organisations, and staff.

Your voice can help shape how this work develops.

Give us your feedback

Together we can make a difference

PCREF is about more than meeting requirements. It is about improving experiences, reducing inequalities and creating fairer mental health care for all. This work is part of our long-term commitment to lasting change.