Background: The Black Country (BC) is an area of the United Kingdom covering Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. The area is ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse. One-fifth of the total population is in the lowest socioeconomic quintile, with an uneven distribution of wealth. The area manifests unmet needs and as perceived underserved community groups. Objectives and Methods: To better understand the situation and inform future provision, listening events were organised across the BC to engage with local underserved communities. A mixed-methods design was employed, using collaborative workshops. The workshops enabled stakeholders to explore priorities, perceived barriers and solutions to mental health services’ access within the BC. Results: Sixty participants verbally consented and signed in to attend the three workshops. There were nine groups that provided 247 statements on the topic, yielding a total of 12 codes and six themes (priorities). The top identified priorities were inappropriate periodisation of accessible funded healthcare needs (n = 42, 18.03%), barriers to appropriate healthcare (n = 49, 21.03%) and limited resources for training, health promotion, preventative care and support networks (n = 62, 26.61%). Conclusions: Addressing the identified priorities will require location and community-specific solutions to establish those communities’ trust and engagement. Cultural stigma should not be viewed as the only barrier to access healthcare but should be considered in combination with the population’s reluctance to reach out to healthcare services due to loss of trust between community groups and lack of co-design of culturally and religiously appropriate services for the community.

This report provides advice to hospital managers, hospital-based service providers, infection prevention and control (IPC) teams and end users who intend to employ automated room decontamination devices as part of their IPC regimens. Conventional cleaning and disinfection approaches are long established and can be very effective if thorough, but recently automated systems have become available that offer the effectiveness and safety to supplement manual methods. Some chemicals such as formaldehyde have had a place within the contained laboratory setting for many years but are too toxic for use in patient areas. Biocidal ultraviolet C light has long been used to treat water systems, but whole-room treatment systems have become available following improved electrical safety and componentry. Although suppliers of fumigation systems have offered decontamination services for over 20 years, new companies have entered the marketplace providing a greater choice of machine designs, catering for different budgets and usage requirements. As a result of the growth in equipment availability the choice is now much greater. This brings consumer benefits but can also be confusing to the potential end user, who might not be familiar with the wealth of technical specifications for these specialized systems. This report is independent and aims to provide useful, generic information that will help healthcare professionals make a well-informed choice if they are intending to buy or rent/lease the automated technology. The aim is to provide guidance on the types of device available, the various active chemicals (where relevant), the biocidal mechanism underpinning the technology, suggested information to be sought from the supplier before purchase, and general precautions recommended for the safe and effective use of the equipment.