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Showing results for tags 'Health Disparities'.
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News Article
Ill health in ‘left behind’ areas costs England £30bn a year, says report
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Endemic ill-health in England’s “left behind” neighbourhoods costs the country almost £30bn a year because people are often too ill to work and die earlier, a report claims. The cost of lost productivity results directly from those very deprived areas having much worse health than the rest of the country, according to parliamentarians and academics. Experts from the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) have calculated that the economy would grow by that amount if health in those areas was improved to such an extent that local people began to enjoy the same health as those in better-off places. The report, by the NHSA and all-party parliamentary group for left behind neighbourhoods (LBNs), highlights the scale of the challenge Boris Johnson faces in meeting his pledge to level up England’s poorest and richest areas. “The health of people living in left behind neighbourhoods is considerably worse than the health of people living in the rest of the country,” said Dr Luke Munford, the report’s lead author and a lecturer in health economics at the University of Manchester. “This is true across all measures of health.” The report shows rates of obesity, lung conditions, high blood pressure, mental health problems and other diseases are much higher than the national average in the 225 LBNs. This means people there have less “healthy life expectancy” and also shorter lives and thus are less productive over their lifespan than those elsewhere. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 January 2022 -
Content ArticleIn this blog, Debbie Ivanova, Deputy Chief Inspector — People with a learning disability and autistic people, and Jemima Burnage, Deputy Chief Inspector and Mental Health Lead, update on progress since the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) 'Out of Sight' report published in October 2020. Their blog discusses the findings of the authors' 'Restraint, segregation and seclusion review: Progress report' published in December 2021.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Content ArticleHealthcare workers (HCWs), particularly those from ethnic minority groups, have been shown to be at disproportionately higher risk of infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to the general population. However, there is insufficient evidence on how demographic and occupational factors influence infection risk among ethnic minority HCWs. Researchers analysed data from 10,772 HCWs who worked during the pandemic to identify demographic and household factors that contributed to infection risk. Results from the UK-REACH study, co-funded by the NIHR and UK Research and Innovation, showed that healthcare workers' risk of catching coronavirus increased in correlation with the level of exposure to COVID-19 patients. Other risk factors included a lack of PPE access and sharing living or working environments with other key workers. Geographical differences were also seen, with healthcare workers in Scotland and South West England at lower risk of infection compared with those in the West Midlands. Intensive care unit staff were also at lower risk than those in other hospital settings.
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EventuntilJoin us for a series of free online webinars brought to you by Bolt Burdon Kemp’s specialist Women’s Health Team to help raise awareness of racial inequality in maternal healthcare. Hear from leaders and influencers in maternal healthcare, focusing on changes required across the profession to improve the level of care provided to those who identify as ethnic minority mothers and birthing people. We have a fabulous line up of expert speakers and each webinar will be followed by a Q&A session. Come and join us for a chance to contribute to the discussion and share experiences. This webinar will be led by Natasha Smith, Founder of Eden’s Script and Benash Nazmeen, Practising Midwife. To register, please email webinars@boltburdonkemp.co.uk - you will be sent a Zoom invite with joining details nearer the time.
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EventuntilJoin us for a series of free online webinars brought to you by Bolt Burdon Kemp’s specialist Women’s Health Team to help raise awareness of racial inequality in maternal healthcare. Hear from leaders and influencers in maternal healthcare, focusing on changes required across the profession to improve the level of care provided to those who identify as ethnic minority mothers and birthing people. We have a fabulous line up of expert speakers and each webinar will be followed by a Q&A session. Come and join us for a chance to contribute to the discussion and share experiences. This webinar will be led by Mars Lord, Doula Educator and Birth Activist. To register, please email webinars@boltburdonkemp.co.uk - you will be sent a Zoom invite with joining details nearer the time.
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Event
Racial Bias in Women’s Health
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
untilJoin us for a series of free online webinars brought to you by Bolt Burdon Kemp’s specialist Women’s Health Team to help raise awareness of racial inequality in maternal healthcare. Hear from leaders and influencers in maternal healthcare, focusing on changes required across the profession to improve the level of care provided to those who identify as ethnic minority mothers and birthing people. We have a fabulous line up of expert speakers and each webinar will be followed by a Q&A session. Come and join us for a chance to contribute to the discussion and share experiences. This webinar will be led by Dr Christine Ekechi, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and Co-chair of the Race Equality Taskforce at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and spokesperson for racial equality. To register, please email webinars@boltburdonkemp.co.uk - you will be sent a Zoom invite with joining details nearer the time. -
EventuntilJoin us for a series of free online webinars brought to you by Bolt Burdon Kemp’s specialist Women’s Health Team to help raise awareness of racial inequality in maternal healthcare. Hear from leaders and influencers in maternal healthcare, focusing on changes required across the profession to improve the level of care provided to those who identify as ethnic minority mothers and birthing people. We have a fabulous line up of expert speakers and each webinar will be followed by a Q&A session. Come and join us for a chance to contribute to the discussion and share experiences. This webinar will be led by Elsie Gayle, Midwife and will include lived experience from a Pakistani mother To register, please email webinars@boltburdonkemp.co.uk - you will be sent a Zoom invite with joining details nearer the time.
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EventuntilJoin us for a series of free online webinars brought to you by Bolt Burdon Kemp’s specialist Women’s Health Team to help raise awareness of racial inequality in maternal healthcare. Hear from leaders and influencers in maternal healthcare, focusing on changes required across the profession to improve the level of care provided to those who identify as ethnic minority mothers and birthing people. We have a fabulous line up of expert speakers and each webinar will be followed by a Q&A session. Come and join us for a chance to contribute to the discussion and share experiences. This webinar will be led by Kate Brintworth, Chief regional Midwife for London and Wendy Olayiwola, National Maternity Lead for Equality NHS England and NHS Improvement To register, please email webinars@boltburdonkemp.co.uk - you will be sent a Zoom invite with joining details nearer the time.
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News Article
Women 32% more likely to die after operation by male surgeon, study reveals
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women who are operated on by a male surgeon are much more likely to die, experience complications and be readmitted to hospital than when a woman performs the procedure, research reveals. Women are 15% more liable to suffer a bad outcome, and 32% more likely to die, when a man rather than a woman carries out the surgery, according to a study of 1.3 million patients. The findings have sparked a debate about the fact that surgery in the UK remains a hugely male-dominated area of medicine and claims that “implicit sex biases” among male surgeons may help explain why women are at such greater risk when they have an operation. “In our 1.3 million patient sample involving nearly 3,000 surgeons we found that female patients treated by male surgeons had 15% greater odds of worse outcomes than female patients treated by female surgeons,” said Dr Angela Jerath, an associate professor and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Toronto in Canada and a co-author of the findings. “This result has real-world medical consequences for female patients and manifests itself in more complications, readmissions to hospital and death for females compared with males. “We have demonstrated in our paper that we are failing some female patients and that some are unnecessarily falling through the cracks with adverse, and sometimes fatal, consequences.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 January 2022 -
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.
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Content Article
NHSE's Core20PLUS5 – An approach to reducing health inequalities
Sam posted an article in Health inequalities
Core20PLUS5 is a national NHS England and NHS Improvement approach to support the reduction of health inequalities at both national and system level. The approach defines a target population cohort – the ‘Core20PLUS’ – and identifies ‘5’ focus clinical areas requiring accelerated improvement. Supporting information about Core20PLUS5 -
Content ArticleThis guidance will help Local Maternity Systems align their Equality and Equality Action Plans with Integrated Care Systems health inequalities work. The guidance includes an analysis of the evidence, interventions to improve equity and equality, resources, indicators and metrics.
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Content ArticleIn this report, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) comments on progress following publication of its 'Out of sight – who cares?' report in October 2020, and highlights the main areas where further work is still needed.
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Content ArticleThe Homecare Association calls on central government to invest properly in homecare, so we can address unmet need, reduce inequalities, extend healthy life expectancy of older and disabled people and reduce pressure on the NHS. To gain an up-to-date view of the additional funding required for homecare to ensure an adequate supply of good quality, sustainable services, the Homecare Association submitted enquiries under Freedom of Information legislation to 340 public organisations which purchase homecare across the United Kingdom. These consisted of local authorities, Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts in Northern Ireland and NHS bodies. Each public organisation was asked to provide several pieces of information, including the prices (lowest, highest, average) it pays to independent and voluntary sector homecare providers for the provision of regulated homecare services, delivered to people aged 65 years or above in their own home, during a sample week in April 2021. The Homecare Deficit 2021 report presents the analysis of the data received, and thus exposes the continued deficit in funding for homecare services in the United Kingdom.
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Content ArticleThis study in Social Science & Medicine aimed to fill a gap in existing research by exploring public views of health inequalities and potential policy responses in three UK cities in July 2016. This involved a nationally representative survey and three two-day citizens' juries that took place in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. The results of the study demonstrate significant public support for proposals that aim to tackle health inequalities through improvements to living and working conditions. There is more limited support for proposals targeting individual behaviour change,
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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 ArticleThis report for the World Health Organisation outlines concepts and principles for policy action to tackle social inequities that impact on health outcomes.
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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.
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News Article
Ministers pledge to ‘reset the dial’ on women’s health in England
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Ministers have pledged to “reset the dial” on women’s health to tackle decades of gender inequality in England, with plans to appoint a women’s health tsar, eradicate medical taboos, boost menopause support and ban harmful “virginity repair” operations. The Department of Health and Social Care has published its Vision for Women’s Health strategy after 100,000 women came forward to share their healthcare concerns. Maria Caulfield, the minister for women’s health, described some of their experiences as “shocking”. The vision document sets out initial government commitments on women’s health, recognising that “systemwide changes” are needed to tackle “decades of gender health inequality”. The final plan – the Women’s Health Strategy – will be published in spring 2022. On Wednesday night, ministers pledged to introduce legislation criminalising hymenoplasty or any procedure to rebuild or repair the hymen. Such surgery creates scar tissue so that a woman will bleed the next time she has intercourse, making it appear she has never had sex. Young women can be forced to prove they are “pure” on their wedding night. Doctors have called for a ban on the surgery for years, saying it can never be justified on health grounds and is harmful. Separately, the government will appoint a women’s health ambassador to raise the profile of key issues and boost awareness of taboo topics. Ministers will also establish a UK-wide menopause taskforce to investigate how women going through the menopause can be better supported. The cost of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescriptions will also be cut by implementing longer prescribing cycles so women will need fewer prescriptions and therefore pay less. The consultation provided “stark and sobering insights” into women’s experiences of health and care and highlighted entrenched problems within the NHS, officials said. Ministers are also considering compulsory training for GPs on women’s health after the idea was raised by women who came forward. The vision document said: “We also heard about a lack of awareness amongst some GPs of the causes of infertility, miscarriages and their relationship with infertility, and the reasons for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) failure.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 December 2021 Related reading Gender bias: A threat to women’s health (August 2020) Dangerous exclusions: The risk to patient safety of sex and gender bias Patient Safety Learning: Women’s Health Strategy Consultation Response -
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.
