Health and Social Care

• Problems caused by differences in structure and organisation of services in Northern Ireland as opposed to their country of origin.
  
  
• Around half the community would have a language barrier in accessing the services.
  
  
• Many of the community do not know the process of registering with a GP and that a GP is a gateway to services.
  
  
• In some Latin-American countries a pharmacist would be the point of contact.
  
  
• It is felt that reception staff in medical centres had often been confused about entitlement to services and this had often led to refusal when service users were eligible.