Community and Health Research Unit (CaHRU), School of Health and Social Care, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
School of Health and Social Care, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2020 Mar 6;20(1):173. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-4987-z.
The UK has experienced significant immigration from Eastern Europe following European Union (EU) expansion in 2004, which raises the importance of equity and equality for the recent immigrants. Previous research on ethnic health inequalities focused on established minority ethnic groups, whereas Eastern European migrants are a growing, but relatively under-researched group. We aimed to conduct a systematic scoping review of published literature on Eastern European migrants' use and experiences of UK health services.
An initial search of nine databases produced 5997 relevant publications. Removing duplicates reduced the figure to 2198. Title and abstract screening left 73 publications. Full-text screening narrowed this down further to 10 articles, with three more from these publications to leave 13 included publications. We assessed publications for quality, extracted data and undertook a narrative synthesis.
The included publications most commonly studied sexual health and family planning services. For Eastern European migrants in the UK, the most commonly cited barriers to accessing and using healthcare were limited understanding of how the system worked and language difficulties. It was also common for migrants to return to their home country to a healthcare system they were familiar with, free from language barriers. Familial and social networks were valuable for patients with a limited command of English in the absence of suitable and available interpreting and translating services.
To address limited understanding of the healthcare system and the English language, the NHS could produce information in all the Eastern European languages about how it operates. Adding nationality to the Electronic Patient Report Form (EPRF) may reveal the demand for interpretation and translation services. Eastern European migrants need to be encouraged to register with GPs to reduce A&E attendance for primary care conditions. Many of the issues raised will be relevant to other European countries since the long-term outcomes from Brexit are likely to influence the level of Eastern European and non-Eastern European migration across the continent, not just the UK.
2004 年欧盟（EU）扩大后，英国经历了来自东欧的大量移民，这使得新移民的公平和平等问题变得尤为重要。先前关于族裔健康不平等的研究主要集中在已确立的少数族裔群体上，而东欧移民是一个不断壮大但相对研究不足的群体。我们旨在对已发表的关于东欧移民使用和体验英国卫生服务的文献进行系统的范围界定审查。
对九个数据库进行初步搜索，产生了 5997 篇相关出版物。删除重复项后，这一数字减少到 2198 篇。标题和摘要筛选留下了 73 篇出版物。全文筛选进一步将这一数字缩小到 10 篇文章，其中从这些出版物中又有 3 篇文章，共纳入 13 篇出版物。我们评估了出版物的质量，提取了数据并进行了叙述性综合。
纳入的出版物最常研究性健康和计划生育服务。对于在英国的东欧移民来说，获得和使用医疗保健服务的最常见障碍是对系统运作方式的理解有限和语言困难。移民也经常回到他们熟悉的、没有语言障碍的祖国的医疗保健系统。在缺乏合适和可用的口译和翻译服务的情况下，家庭和社交网络对英语水平有限的患者非常有价值。
为了解决对医疗保健系统和英语的理解有限的问题，NHS 可以用所有东欧语言制作有关其运作方式的信息。在电子病历（EPRF）中添加国籍信息可能会揭示对口译和翻译服务的需求。应该鼓励东欧移民向全科医生注册，以减少因初级保健条件而到急症室就诊的人数。由于英国退欧的长期后果可能会影响整个欧洲大陆东欧和非东欧移民的水平，而不仅仅是英国，因此提出的许多问题将与其他欧洲国家有关。
