PEOPLE living in Somerset who can’t speak English will be able to talk about their experiences of health and social care services thanks to a £1,500 grant.

Healthwatch Somerset – which involves local people to improve the services locally – has given the cash to the Midwest European Community Association (MECA) to support non-English speakers from Europe now living in the county.

It will help pay for meetings and translate leaflets into four languages.

MECA chairman Milene Russell said: “Non-English speakers can find it hard to access health and social care services, and their views are often not heard.

“We will use this grant to talk to 30 people from ethnic minorities to gather information about their experiences with health and social care services.

“This will be done through face-to-face meetings, focus groups or on-line questionnaires.

“This will allow us to find out their concerns and make sure that they can be involved to improve services across Somerset.”

Rachel Robinson, chief executive of The Care Forum, who run Healthwatch Somerset, said: “We know that the more people are involved in health and social care services, the better those services are for everyone.

“MECA has a unique place in the European migrant population in Somerset and their work in collecting people’s views will be very useful.”