Eight of our EAL Cantonese speakers took part in this event which was arranged in order to find out which language barriers prevented the learners from using or accessing all the available NHS services. 

We look forward to receiving the full report on this session but I'll just mention one interesting reason for this: Many Cantonese speakers have been exposed to Chinese medicine from earliest childhood and often use a mixture of this with the conventional UK medicine provided by the NHS. 

So, what appears to be a lack of uptake of the NHS services is sometimes explained by the individuals using a mixture of the two different approaches to medication and health care.