Engaging with civil society to improve access to LTBI screening for new migrants in England: A qualitative study

SETTING: The latent tuberculous infection (LTBI) programme in England, UK, offers testing and treatment to new migrants from high tuberculosis incidence countries. However, the rates of LTBI testing, treatment acceptance and completion are suboptimal and appropriate access should be improved. OBJECTIVE: To gain insight from the community, community-based organisations (CBOs) and public sector stakeholders on interventions that facilitate collaboration to improve health care outreach and delivery. DESIGN: Three stakeholder meetings and five focus group discussions were held using thematic analysis to identify themes arising from participants' perspectives. RESULTS: Four overarching themes emerged from the discussions. These were related to capacity of service providers, collaboration between stakeholders, migrant cultures and trust between migrants and service providers, and highlighted the complementary skill sets that different sectors bring to the collaboration, as well as the barriers that need to be surmounted. Stigma could be reduced by making LTBI testing routine. Community members could act as champions of health promotion to raise awareness on LTBI testing, and provide a bridge between communities and primary care services. CONCLUSION: Public service providers, community members and CBOs are willing to collaborate to support primary care delivery of testing for LTBI and other communicable and non-communicable diseases. Policy and commissioning support are needed to facilitate this collaboration.