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Showing results for tags 'Ethnicity'.
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News ArticleYounger adults and those living in poorer neighbourhoods and black people have the highest levels of vaccine hesitancy, new survey data from the Office for National Statistics has shown. The vast majority of Britons back the COVID-19 vaccines and are keen to be inoculated, with more than 9 out 10 people being positive about the jab. But the ONS said data from a survey between 13 January and 7 February revealed reluctance among less than 10% of the population. It found more than 4 in 10 of black or black British adults reported vaccine hesitancy, the highest of all ethnic groups, while adults aged 16-29 were most likely to report hesitancy, at around 1 in 6 or 17%. Adults living in the most deprived areas of England were more likely to report vaccine hesitancy at 16%, compared with 7% of adults in the least deprived areas of England. This has been evident in the take up of the vaccine among some deprived areas of the country which have struggled to vaccinate everyone in priority groups. Even among NHS and social care staff there has been reported hesitancy over vaccines, particularly among BAME staff. Read full story Source: The Independent, 9 March 2021
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News Article
GPs’ survey finds race discrimination in NHS treatment of primary care
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A survey of an area’s GPs and other primary care staff found those from a minority ethnic background feel they are less involved in decision making and less respected by their colleagues, according to results shared with HSJ. The survey, instigated by GPs in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, also found more staff from a minority ethnic background said they had experienced some form of bullying or harassment, including “instances of physical violence”. The work is thought to be unusual in primary care — annual “workforce race equality standard” surveys are required by NHS England for NHS trusts and, in the past year, clinical commissioning groups, but not in primary care. The survey in October was instigated by Doncaster Primary Care BAME Network and facilitated by Doncaster clinical commissioning group. It was sent to GPs and practice staff, community pharmacy staff, and other “healthcare professionals” in primary care. There were 136 respondents. The report of the results said minority ethnic staff felt they were less able to make decisions to improve the work of primary care, less involved in decisions regarding their area of work and less respected by their colleagues compared with their white colleagues. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 9 March 2021 -
Content ArticleThe Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) programme has now been collecting data on race inequality for five years, holding up a mirror to the service and revealing the disparities that exist for black and minority ethnic staff compared to their white colleagues. The findings of this report do not make for a comfortable read, and nor should they. The evidence from each WRES report over the years has shown that our black and minority ethnic staff members are less well represented at senior levels, have measurably worse day to day experiences of life in NHS organisations, and have more obstacles to progressing in their careers. The persistence of outcomes like these is not something that any of us should accept. It is in recognition of these realities that the People Plan 2020/21 has ‘belonging’ as one of its four pillars.
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Content ArticleThis article from the King's Fund examines the differences in health outcomes for ethnic minority groups, highlighting the variation across groups and conditions, and considers what’s needed to reduce health inequalities.
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News Article
Concerns raised over link between CQC ratings and ethnicity
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The Royal College of GPs has called for an independent review of the link between poor Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection ratings and the ethnicity of GP partners. The college called for the regulator to commission the work in particular for those rated “requires improvement” and “inadequate” over the past five years, including practices which have since closed down. This will assess “if there is an association between the outcomes of inspections and ethnicity or country of qualification of the GP partners”, according to the RCGP. In addition, the RCGP wants to work with the regulator to discuss how the availability and transparency of this information can be improved to ensure minority ethnic GPs’ experiences are heard. Minority ethnic GPs shared their experiences of CQC inspections at an RCGP council meeting last week, where council members voted to support the above actions. Dr Howsam said: “The college’s BAME action plan commits us to delivering positive change for all our Black, Asian and minority ethnic members and we will continue to work constructively with the CQC towards an improved system of inspection that is supportive of GPs and keeps patients safe as we move away from the immediate crisis of the pandemic and into recovery.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 March 2021 -
News Article
Black over-80s 'half as likely' to have been vaccinated
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Black people over the age of 80 were half as likely as their white peers to have been vaccinated against Covid by 13 January, a large study suggests. This is despite the fact black people are four times more likely to die with COVID-19 than their white counterparts. People living in deprived areas or who have severe mental-health conditions or learning disabilities were also less likely to have received a vaccination. The study was based on more than 20 million patient records in England. The OpenSafely study, by the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, found of the million of those over 80 but not living in a care home: 43% of the white people had been given their first dose of the vaccine 30% of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani people had 21% of the black people had. Bangladeshi and Pakistani people are twice as likely to die with COVID-19 as white peple. Birmingham-based business owner Tru Powell told BBC Radio 5 Live of a "lack of trust between the government and people of colour". "People of colour have been subject to institutionalised racism within the healthcare system," she said. "We are five times more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act and four times more likely to die in childbirth." Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 January 2021 -
News Article
Record ethnicity of those getting covid vaccine to fight stigma, NHSE told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
NHS England has been urged to introduce routine recording of race and ethnicity data when people are given their covid vaccination. Documents seen by HSJ show Pinnacle, the IT system being used by GPs and mass vaccination centres to record jabs, does not directly require ethnicity to be recorded. Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, which promotes race equality in public services, told HSJ that making it a requirement would help establish the facts on uptake among different groups, more quickly. It is understood the NHS is able to ascertain data on vaccine uptake by ethnicity by connecting it with GP records, through the national immunisation management service, and potentially with other healthcare data. However, Mr Butt said this would provide only limited insight and take more time. He believes the absence of data may allow ”misconceptions” to take hold about lower uptake among some minorities, which can lead to stigma, when in fact, he said, the trend may so far simply be due to there being fewer black and Asian people in the oldest age groups, who are the first eligible for vaccination. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 24 January 2021 -
News ArticleRachel Hardeman has dedicated her career to fighting racism and the harm it has inflicted on the health of Black Americans. As a reproductive health equity researcher, she has been especially disturbed by the disproportionately high mortality rates for Black babies. In an effort to find some of the reasons behind the high death rates, Hardeman, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and three other researchers combed through the records of 1.8 million Florida hospital births between 1992 and 2015 looking for clues. They found a tantalising statistic. Although Black newborns are three times as likely to die as White newborns, when Black babies are delivered by Black doctors, their mortality rate is cut in half. "Strikingly, these effects appear to manifest more strongly in more complicated cases," the researchers wrote, "and when hospitals deliver more Black newborns." They found no similar relationship between White doctors and White births. Nor did they find a difference in maternal death rates when the doctor's race was the same as the patient's. Read full story Research paper Source: The Washington Post, 9 January 2021
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Content ArticleAs the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic ‘Build Back Better’ has become the mantra. Important, but we need to Build Back Fairer. The levels of social, environmental and economic inequality in society are damaging health and wellbeing. The aim of this report from the Institute of Health Equity is three-fold: To examine inequalities in COVID-19 mortality. Focus is on inequalities in mortality among members of BAME groups and among certain occupations, alongside continued attention to the socioeconomic gradient in health – the more deprived the area, the worse COVID-19 mortality tends to be. To show the effects that the pandemic, and the societal response to contain the pandemic, have had on social and economic inequalities, their effects on mental and physical health, and their likely effects on health inequalities in the future. To make recommendations on what needs to be done.
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News ArticleHealth checks should be offered to people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds from the age of 25, a report has recommended. MPs examined the disproportionate impact of the Covid pandemic on people from black and Asian backgrounds. They said NHS checks, currently available to 40-70-year-olds in England, could pick up conditions which are linked to severe coronavirus. The role of inequalities in employment and housing was also emphasised. The report, produced by the Women and Equalities Committee, said the government should act to tackle these wider causes of poor health. The committee heard evidence during the course of its investigation that showed 63% of healthcare workers who died after contracting the virus had come from black, Asian or other ethnic minority backgrounds. And during the first peak of the virus, data from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre showed 34% of coronavirus patients in ICUs were from an ethnic minority background, whereas they made up 12% of viral pneumonia admissions. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data has also shown that black people were almost twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as white people, with those of Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnicity about 1.7 times as likely. The report raised concerns the pandemic was entrenching "existing health inequalities". Read full story Source: BBC News, 15December 2020
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Content ArticleIn this analysis, published by the BMJ, professor of public health, Sarah Salway and colleagues, argue that the UK health system must take urgent action to better understand and meet the health needs of migrants and ethnic minority people.
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Content ArticlePatients from ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Sze et al. performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the relationship between ethnicity and clinical outcomes in COVID-19. They found that individuals of Black and Asian ethnicity are at increased risk of COVID-19 infection compared to White individuals; Asians may be at higher risk of ITU admission and death. These findings are of critical public health importance in informing interventions to reduce morbidity and mortality amongst ethnic minority groups.
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News Article
Black and Asian people ‘up to twice as likely to be infected with Covid’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Black and Asian people are up to twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to those of white ethnicities, according to a major new report. The risk of ending up in intensive care with coronavirus may be twice as high for people with an Asian background compared to white people, data gathered from more than 18 million individuals in 50 studies across the UK and US also suggests. The report, published in the EClinicalMedicine by The Lancet, is the first-ever meta-analysis of the effect of ethnicity on patients with COVID-19. The scientists behind it said their findings should be of "importance to policymakers" ahead of the possible roll out of a vaccine. Read full story Source: The Independent, 12 November 2020 -
EventWestminster Health Forum policy conference. The agenda: Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the ethnic minority community, and priorities for improving health outcomes. The health and social care response to inequality through the pandemic and taking forward new initiatives. Understanding the data and risk factors for COVID-19 in ethnic minority groups. Wider health inequalities faced by people in ethnic minorities - addressing underlying factors, and the role of COVID-19 recovery strategies in supporting long-term change. Priorities for providing leadership in tackling health inequalities in the workforce. Driving forward and ensuring race equality in the NHS. Providing support to the ethnic minority health workforce and taking forward key learnings from COVID-19. Next steps for action in race disparity in healthcare. Book
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Content ArticleOn 30 May 2020, NHS England and the NHS Confederation launched the NHS Race and Health Observatory, a new centre to investigate the impact of race and ethnicity on people’s health and to identify and tackle the specific health challenges facing people of black and ethnic minority origin.
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Content ArticleBlack, Latinx, and Native Americans are experiencing disproportionate burdens of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths from COVID-19. Similar disparities are observed in other countries where minority groups face hurdles in accessing health, education, and social services as well as affordable, healthy food. These stark manifestations of health inequities have emerged in the wake of a body of evidence linking obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease — conditions that disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations — with severe outcomes from COVID-19. Though the factors underlying racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 in the United States are multifaceted and complex, long-standing disparities in nutrition and obesity play a crucial role in the health inequities unfolding during the pandemic.
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EventJoin clinical experts, thought leaders, and advocates for a collaborative discussion on the issues of health disparities, structural racism, and medicine as they examine specific dermatologic diseases in a series of four free and open educational webinars from the Harvard Medical School. Structural racism and racial bias in medicine: Wednesday, October 28, 1:00-2:15 PM ET Hair disorders in people of colour: Thursday, November 12, 1:00-2:15 PM ET Pigmentary disorders and keloids: Wednesday, November 18, 1:00-2:15 PM ET COVID-19 Comorbidities and cutaneous manifestations of systemic diseases in adults and children: Wednesday, December 2, 1:00-2:15 PM ET Implicit bias and structural racism play a central role in the development of healthcare disparities. One of the critically important areas in medicine is the misdiagnosis of disease in people with darker skin types due to implicit bias and the lack of awareness among physicians in recogniszing the disease pattern. Clinicians in primary care, emergency medicine, hospital medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and other medical specialties can deliver improved care if they can recognize and diagnose medical conditions based on skin findings in patients of color. This four-part series aims to improve diagnosis in people of color, describe pathogenesis and treatment of diseases, develop cultural competency, and impact change in health care policy so more is done to reduce racial bias in medical practice and medical research. Providing this education, in turn, will ultimately help reduce health disparities and improve the lives of underrepresented minority populations. Register for one event or all four.
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News ArticleNHS leaders are being encouraged to have ‘difficult discussions’ about inequalities, after a trust found its BAME staff reported being ‘systematically… bullied and harassed’, along with other signs of discrimination. A report published by Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust found the trust’s black, Asian and minority ethnic staff are more likely than white staff to be bullied or harassed by colleagues, less likely to reach top jobs, and experience higher rates of discrimination from managers. It claims to be the first in-depth review into pay gaps and career progression among BAME workforce at a single trust. The new report revealed that, in a trust survey carried out last year, some BAME staff described being subjected to verbal abuse and racial slurs by colleagues; had left departments after being given no chance of progression; and been “systematically… bullied and harassed”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 22 September 2020
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News ArticleMore than one in four patients with severe mental health conditions are missing diagnosis when they are admitted to hospital for other reasons, new research suggests. According to data analysed by scientists at University College London, those who are missing these mental illness diagnoses are more likely to be from ethnic minority groups or have a previously diagnosed mental illnesses. However, the situation has improved – in 2006 it was found that mental health diagnoses were missed in more than 50% of cases. "We found encouraging signs that clinicians are more frequently identifying severe mental illnesses in hospital patients than they were a decade ago,” Hassan Mansour, a research assistant at UCL psychiatry, said. “But there's a lot more that can be done, particularly to address disparities between ethnic groups, to ensure that everyone gets the best care available. Training in culturally-sensitive diagnosis may be needed to reduce inequalities in medical care." The researchers have suggested these findings may be due to language barriers or stigma felt by patients. It was also suggested that clinicians may be less able to detect these conditions in people from other ethnic and cultural groups. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 September 2020
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Content ArticleWith evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities, on 15 April 2020 NHS England CEO Simon Stevens convened a meeting of leaders in healthcare and representative bodies such as the British Medical Association and Royal College of Nursing to agree a plan of action to support staff. The NHS response has since been underpinned by three principles of protecting, supporting, and engaging staff.
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News Article
Review launched after ‘injustices suffered by BAME staff’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A clinical commissioning group (CCG) has ordered an independent review of its culture which it said was prompted by the “injustices experienced by black Asian and minority ethic colleagues” during the pandemic, HSJ has learned. The review at Surrey Heartlands CCG, due to report in the autumn, is being led by Duncan Lewis, emeritus professor of management at Plymouth University. He has led several major reviews into culture at NHS organisations, including one into bullying and harassment at South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust in 2017 and one into workplace culture at Whittington Health Trust in 2018. HSJ asked the CCG for the terms of reference of the review and the reasons why it felt it necessary to commission such an inquiry. It said the review’s scope would be determined by what staff felt was important regarding “our organisational culture, policy and practice – things we do well and things we need to improve”. It added in a statement: “We will listen to the findings of the review and we will make any changes that are necessary.” It is not yet clear if specific events within the organisation itself prompted the CCG to take the unusual step of commissioning the work. But the commissioner’s interim chief did say “feedback from staff” had been a driver. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 26 August 2020 -
Content Article
In this Guardian Long Read, Neil Singh highlights that during his medical training, it was almost always assumed that his patients would be white. He argues this prejudice is harmful in its own right – and when it comes to dangerous skin conditions, it can be deadly. -
Content ArticleThis investigation, published in Anesthesiology, was specifically designed to determine whether errors at low saturation correlate with skin colour.
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Content ArticleThis is a report and survey analysis from Runnymede, the UK’s leading independent thinktank on race equality and race relations. Results show that black and minority ethnic (BME) people face greater barriers in shielding from coronavirus as a result of: the types of employment they hold (BME men and women are overrepresented among key worker roles)having to use public transport moreliving in overcrowded and multigenerational households morenot being given appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) at work. In all of these areas, most BME groups are more likely to be over-exposed and under-protected compared with their white British counterparts.
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Content ArticleHow is COVID-19 repeating patterns of existing health inequalities? What factors are driving the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on the health of ethnic minority populations? And what needs to happen next? Helen McKenna talks to Natalie Creary, Programme Delivery Director at Black Thrive, and James Nazroo, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester.
