Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Health Disparities'.
Found 793 results
-
Content ArticlePeople in England’s most deprived neighbourhoods work longer hours than those in the rest of the country but live shorter lives with more years in ill health costing an estimated £29.8bn a year to the economy in lost productivity. People living in these communities were also 46% more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in the rest of England. The findings, revealed in a joint report released today by the All-Parliamentary Party Group for ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods and Northern Health Science Alliance, shows the devastating impact of poor health for those living in deprived areas and left behind neighbourhoods (LBNs) and makes a number of recommendations to overcome the health inequalities faced by people living in these places. Those living in local authorities that contain ‘left behind’ neighbourhoods have a further £2bn gap in lost productivity compared to those areas with a similar rate of deprivation but with more civic assets, connectedness and an active and engaged community. Across most measures people in these areas fair even worse than those in deprived neighbourhoods.
-
Content ArticleIn this second podcast focusing on the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) GP Inequalities Project, Annabelle Stigwood, joint project lead, talks to Dr Faizan Ahmed, National Clinical Advisor at the CQC, and Dr Bola Olowabi, Director - Health Inequalities at NHS England and NHS Improvement. The guests discuss health inequalities and how they impact on the ability of GP practices to do their job. They discuss what we mean by health inequalities, why it's so important to focus on them in health and social care, and the role of providers, systems and regulators in addressing them. Listen to the first episode which introduces the project
-
Content ArticleIn this podcast for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Dr Ayisha Ashmore and Dr Faizan Ahmed discuss the CQC's GP Inequalities Project which is investigating the concern that GPs from an ethnic minority background receive poorer CQC ratings or regulatory outcomes.
-
Content ArticleThis report of a roundtable held by the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) highlights inequalities in relation to the prevalence of, and access to treatment for musculoskeletal conditions (MSKs). MSKs include a broad range of health conditions affecting the bones, joints, muscles and spine, as well as rarer autoimmune conditions such as lupus. Their incidence is correlated with deprivation, age, sex and ethnicity.
-
Content ArticleIn this blog for the website Cysters, Kiran Chalke and Hayle Davis share their experiences of accessing gynaecology and reproductive services as a lesbian couple. They describe the barriers they have faced to accessing IVF and highlight disparities in the treatment of heterosexual and same-sex couples on the NHS. They also discuss the impact that bias in the system and from individual healthcare workers has had on both of their experiences of gynaecology treatment. The attitudes of staff and failure to read their notes fully has resulted in the couple feeling uncomfortable in healthcare settings and in treatment delays that have had a real impact on their quality of life.
-
Content ArticleThis report for the World Health Organisation outlines concepts and principles for policy action to tackle social inequities that impact on health outcomes.
-
Content ArticleThis report for the World Health Organisation outlines approaches to promoting greater equity in health between different social and occupational groups. It follows of from the report 'Concepts and principles for tackling social inequities in health: Levelling up part 1' and draws on the work of WHO advisory groups, together with practical examples from industrialised countries where strategies have been put into action.
-
Content Article
The Dahlgren-Whitehead rainbow (1991)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Health inequalities
The Dahlgren-Whitehead rainbow is a model for determining health inequalities that maps the relationship between the individual, their environment and health. It was developed in 1991 by Göran Dahlgren and Margaret Whitehead and places individuals at the centre, with various layers of influences on health surrounding them, such as individual lifestyle factors, community influences, living and working conditions, and more general social conditions. The model remains one of the most effective illustrations of health determinants, and has had widespread impact in research on health inequality and influences. It has helped researchers develop a range of hypotheses about the determinants of health, explore the relative influence of these determinants on different health outcomes and plot the interactions between the various determinants. -
Content ArticleIn this interview for Woman's Hour, Dr Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Southampton, discusses the impact of Long Covid on her own life with presenter Emma Barnett. She also shares insights from research that suggests women, people of working age, people from areas of high social deprivation and frontline health and education workers are more likely to be affected by Long Covid. Dr Alwan talks about the need to manage Long Covid alongside daily activities and highlights new research that demonstrates that vaccines may reduce the incidence of the condition. The interview can be heard at 17:23-25:20 in the recording.
-
Content ArticleMany asylum seekers struggle to access healthcare when they come to the UK due to the extensive paperwork needed to register with primary care and other services. Many new arrivals have complex health needs for which current NHS healthcare systems struggle to offer appropriate care, exacerbating the trauma already experienced by many of these vulnerable people and families. In this article for The BMJ, the authors look at how how a model response to this issue was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
-
Content ArticleIn the 1983 film Yentl, Barbra Streisand plays a young Jewish woman in Poland who pretends to be a man in order to receive an education. The film’s premise has made its way into medical lore as “Yentl syndrome,” which describes the phenomenon whereby women are misdiagnosed and poorly treated unless their symptoms or diseases conform to that of men. Sometimes, Yentl syndrome can prove fatal. The science of medicine is based on male bodies, but researchers are beginning to realise how vastly the symptoms of disease differ between the sexes. Caroline Criado Perez explores why women are continually being let down by the medical establishment.
-
Content ArticleIn this interview Kathryn Marszalek, Senior Analytical Manager at the Health Foundation and Dr Jessica Butler from the Institute of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, discuss the Health Foundation's Networked Data Lab (NDL). They describe how linking data across the whole health and care system improves care and safety outcomes for patients, and how the programme has been used so far to identify clinically extremely vulnerable patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. They talk about what's next for the NDL and describe key success factors in achieving the the programme's fundamental goal of improving health inequalities in the population.
-
Content ArticleThis population-based cohort study in JAMA Surgery aims to determine the association of surgeon and patient sex concordance with postoperative outcomes. The authors found that worse outcomes, including death and complications, were more likely among female patients treated by male surgeons. The authors highlight the need for further research to understand the underlying mechanisms causing this trend.
-
Content ArticleThe Royal College of Physicians has published a position paper setting out why we need an explicit cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities to improve population health and address avoidable differences in health access and outcomes between certain groups. Health inequality was a problem before COVID-19 – with a gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas of around 19 years – but the pandemic has tragically demonstrated how these inequalities can have an impact in just a matter of weeks.
-
Content Article
Is the FDA Failing Women? (September 2021)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Women's health
Many devices in current use were marketed before the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began regulating devices in 1976. Thus, manufacturers of these devices were not required to demonstrate safety and effectiveness, which presents both clinical and ethical problem for patients, especially for women, as some of the most dangerous devices—such as implanted contraceptive devices— are used only in women. This article from Madris Kinard and Rita F. Redberg investigates whether and to what extent devices for women receive less rigorous scrutiny than devices for men. This article also suggests how the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health could more effectively ensure safety and effectiveness of devices that were marketed prior to 1976. -
Content ArticleRacially and ethnically minoritised healthcare staff groups disproportionately experience and witness workplace discrimination from patients, colleagues and managers. This is visible in their under-representation at senior levels and over-representation in disciplinary proceedings and is associated with adversities such as greater depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, low job satisfaction and sickness absence. In the UK, little progress has been made despite the implementation of measures to tackle racialised inequities in the health services. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 48 healthcare staff in London (UK), Woodhead et al. identified how micro-level bullying, prejudice, discrimination and harassment behaviours, independently and in combination, exploit and maintain meso-level racialised hierarchies.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the British Journal of General Practice aims to identify and understand the unintended consequences of online consultations in primary care. The authors interviewed 19 patients and 18 general practice staff at eight general practices using online consultation tools in South West and North West England between February 2019 and January 2020. The study found the following unintended consequences of online consultation: Creation of difficulties for some patients in communicating effectively with a GP. The system disadvantaged digitally-excluded patients. Patient uncertainty about how their queries were dealt with, and whether practices used online consultations as their preferred method for patients to contact the practice. Creation of additional work for some staff. Isolation and dissatisfaction for some staff.
-
Content Article
Webinar - Inequalities in maternity care (8 December 2021)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Maternity
This is the recording of a webinar about inequalities in maternity care hosted by the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA). The webinar features presentations on a Lancet article 'Adverse pregnancy outcomes attributable to socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in England: a national cohort study' and on the NMPA report 'Ethnic and socio-economic inequalities in NHS maternity and perinatal care for women and their babies'. The Q&A panel features: Professor Eddie Morris Clo and Tinuke, Five X more Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP Professor Jacqui Dunkley-Bent Professor Marian Knight Professor Asma Khalil -
Content ArticleThis report provides an update on cross-government work to address the disparities highlighted by the Public Health England report 'COVID-19: review of disparities in risks and outcomes', published in June 2020. It sets out how the Government's understanding of and response to the pandemic changed over the lifecycle of this work. The report also includes a summary of progress against recommendations from previous reports, lessons learned from this work and an action plan for addressing some of the longer-term issues identified.
-
Content ArticleIn this blog Dr Peter Green, CVDPREVENT Workstream Clinical Lead for the NHS Benchmarking Network, looks at the importance of understanding how demographic factors impact the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is a leading risk factor for premature death. He discusses how the CVDPREVENT audit will help primary care healthcare professionals work with their patients to achieve better outcomes for all.
-
Content ArticleThe Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit (CVDPREVENT) is a national primary care audit that automatically extracts routinely held GP data. This tool provides open access to the data, with clear, actionable insights for those tasked with improving cardiovascular health in England.
-
Content ArticleIn this blog, David Buck and Toby Lewis of the King's Fund describe NHS England and NHS Improvement's new 'Core20plus5' approach to tackling health inequalities. They identify risks to the effectiveness of the strategy and highlight the importance of a partnership approach to tackling health inequalities.
-
Content ArticleThe emergence of the omicron variant has raised concerns that the pandemic is not yet over. In this BMJ opinion piece, William et al. outline four key lessons that governments need to learn from to protect against future pandemics
-
Content Article
This is the third of a short series of blogs in which we take a look back at our work in five areas of patient safety during 2021. In this blog we look at how we’ve been highlighting patient safety concerns relating to health inequalities. Through our work, Patient Safety Learning seeks to harness the knowledge, insights, enthusiasm and commitment of health and social care organisations, professionals and patients for system-wide change and the reduction of avoidable harm. We believe patient safety is not just another priority; it is a core purpose of health and social care. Patient safety should not be negotiable. -
Content ArticleIn this opinion piece for the BMJ, David Oliver, a consultant in geriatrics and acute general medicine, draws lessons from the Grenfell Tower disaster and subsequent public inquiry. 72 people lost their lives in the fire that destroyed Grenfell Tower in 2017. Evidence to the public inquiry has shown that several residents had raised concerns about the building's safety over many years, and that architects, building contractors, and providers and fitters of cladding material had also expressed concerns about the safety of the exterior cladding used on Grenfell Tower. David Oliver highlights that had these concerns been listened to and acted on, the disaster could have been avoided and many lives saved. He draws parallels with concerns being raised by patients about the safety of the healthcare system and highlights the role of staff in repeatedly raising and keeping a record of concerns. He states that NHS leaders must create a culture where no one is afraid to speak out and act to mitigate safety issues. Leaders must expect to be held accountable for their response - or lack of response - to safety issues raised.
