An Evaluation of Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust, Bilingual Co-Workers Project

The following document is an evaluation conducted by the Urban Regeneration Evaluation Research team at the Centre for Institutional Studies (CIS), University of East London (UEL). This study was commissioned by the Fit for Work Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) Partnership to undertake an independent assessment of the Bilingual Support Workers Project in the London Borough of Newham. The project aimedto improve access to health jobs through recruitment and training of local people from black and minority ethnic communities to become bilingual co-workers within Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust. It also aimed to improve access to health care services to those minority ethnic communities who may prefer to communicate in their own community language. In order to evaluate the impact of this project the researchers have drawn on literature on language services, information on the SRB programme, minutes of meetings, interviews with twenty-six people, and observations of and participation in a conference 'Health Across Cultures' organised by the project. The fieldwork for the evaluation was carried out during 2000