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Showing results for tags 'Health Disparities'.
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Content ArticleKey points A strong and effective ICS will have a deep understanding of all the people and communities it serves. The insights and diverse thinking of people and communities are essential to enabling ICSs to tackle health inequalities and the other challenges faced by health and care systems. The creation of statutory ICS arrangements brings fresh opportunities to strengthen work with people and communities, building on existing relationships, networks and activities.
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News ArticlePatients from minority groups are facing longer wait times for potentially life-saving lung cancer treatment compared to their white counterparts, according to a study. Experts warn that disparities can have real consequences – the earlier treatment is initiated, the better the health outcomes for patients. Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) Cancer Centre reviewed data from more than 222,700 patients with non-small cell lung cancer across the US. The findings, published in the scientific journal Health Equity, showed that the mean time for radiation initiation was 61.7 days. Broken down by ethnicity, white patients had to wait only 60.9 days, while Black patients had a wait time of 65.9 days, meanwhile for Asian patients, it was 71.9 days. A single-week delay in treatment could lead to a 3.2% and 1.6% increase in the risk of death for patients with stage I and stage II non-small cell lung cancer, respectively. “Our results suggest that non-white lung cancer patients have delayed time to cancer treatment compared with white patients, and this is not limited to a particular type of treatment facility,” said senior researcher Rajesh Balkrishnan, PhD, of UVA Cancer Center and the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences. “Collaboration among providers and community stakeholders and organisations is much needed to increase accessibility and patient knowledge of cancer and to overcome existing disparities in timely care for lung cancer patients.” Scientists cite multiple reasons for the racial disparities, including health insurance – non-white patients are more likely to be uninsured, face greater socioeconomic barriers to care and may be perceived by doctors as being at risk for not following through with treatment plans. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 October 2022
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Public health cuts must be avoided, new PM told
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Cuts to public health budgets will hit poorest communities the hardest, the new government is being warned. Directors of public health say local authorities - which pay for initiatives such as smoking cessation services - are on a financial cliff edge. Rising inflation means ventures will cost more to run. Any reduction in funding in next week's spending announcement will have a direct impact on the lives of the most vulnerable, they said. David Finch, assistant director of healthy lives at The Health Foundation, said: "Public health interventions have been shown to be really cost effective. Investing in these preventative measures that help to keep people in good health in the first place means you're protecting against future costs to the economy and society by keeping people healthy and reducing poor health in the future." Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 October 2022 -
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News ArticleResearchers in the US have found a genetic link between people with African ancestry and the aggressive type of breast cancer. They hope their findings will encourage more black people to get involved in clinical trials in a bid to improve survival rates for people with the disease. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is more common in women under 40 and disproportionately affects black women. A study published in the journal JAMA Oncology found that black women diagnosed with TNBC are 28% more likely to die from it than white women with the same diagnosis. Now a new study has confirmed a definitive genetic link between African ancestry and TNBC. Lisa Newman, of Weill Cornell Medicine, has been part of an international project studying breast cancer in women in different regions of Africa for 20 years. She says representation of women with diverse backgrounds on clinical trials is absolutely critical. "Unfortunately, African-American women are disproportionately under-represented in cancer clinical trials and we see this in the breast cancer clinical trials as well," says Dr Newman. "If you don't have diverse representation, you don't understand how to apply these advances in treatment. "Part of it is because there is some historic mistrust of the healthcare system. "We do continue to see systemic racism in the healthcare delivery system where it has been documented, tragically, that many cancer care providers are less likely to offer clinical trials to their black patients compared with their white patients."
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News ArticleMore than a third of the 3143 counties in the US are maternity “deserts” without a hospital or birth centre that offers obstetric care and without any obstetric providers—and the situation is getting worse, says a report from the March of Dimes organisation. Maternity deserts have increased by 2% since the 2020 report, said the organisation which seeks to improve the health of women and babies. Care is diminishing where it is needed most—especially in rural areas. It affects nearly seven million women of childbearing age and about half a million babies. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 17 October 2022
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Slow cancer diagnosis twice as likely for ethnic minority patients, survey shows
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
New patient data shows significant regional differences in the effectiveness of primary care in getting cancer sufferers diagnosed – with an even more alarming picture when the data is broken down by ethnicity. A survey of cancer patients asked how many times they had “spoken to a healthcare professional at [their] GP practice about health problems caused by cancer” before they were diagnosed, with a range between one and more than five times. The overall figure for five times or more in England was 7% – but all four cancer alliances in London scored significantly above this. Cancer Research UK said this could reflect the greater concentration of ethnic minority patients in the capital, and the data bore this out. Nationally, 6.6% of white cancer patients had seen five or more primary care staff before getting a diagnosis. This compared to 11.7% for Asian cancer patients and 12.9% for Black cancer patients. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 18 October 2022 -
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University of Leicester team finds more stillbirths in deprived areas
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Research suggests there are higher rates of stillbirth and neonatal death for those living in deprived areas and minority ethnic groups. A report from a team at the University of Leicester shows that while overall stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates have reduced, inequalities persist. MBRRACE-UK, the team that carried out the research, said it had looked at outcomes for specific ethnic groups. The report showed the stillbirth rate in the UK had reduced by 21% over the period 2013 to 2020 to 3.33 per 1,000 total births. Over the same period the neonatal mortality rate has reduced by 17% to 1.53 per 1,000 births. However despite these improvements, the authors found inequalities persisted, with those living in the most deprived areas, minority ethnic groups and twin pregnancies all experiencing higher rates of stillbirth. Elizabeth Draper, professor of perinatal and paediatric epidemiology at the university, said: "In this report we have carried out a deeper dive into the impact of deprivation and ethnicity on stillbirth and neonatal death rates. "For the first time, we report on outcomes for babies of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black Caribbean and Black African, rather than reporting on broader Asian and black ethnic groups, who have diverse backgrounds, culture and experiences. "This additional information will help in the targeting of intervention and support programmes to try to reduce stillbirth and neonatal death." Read full story Source: BBC News, 14 October 2022 -
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Content ArticleRecommendations The Group makes 13 recommendations for Government, NHS and other bodies to initiate change and dispel the long-held taboo around ‘the change’, including to: Urgently scrap prescription costs for HRT in England, as is the case in all the devolved nations. Implement a health check for all women at 45 to help diagnose menopause at an earlier stage. Fund new research into the real benefits of HRT and the link between menopause and serious health conditions. Co-ordinate an employer-led campaign and improve guidance to drive up support for menopause in the workplace; Create a National Formulary for HRT and include menopause in the GP Quality and Outcomes Framework to improve menopause diagnosis and treatment. Provide updated menopause training for GPs and other healthcare professionals who did not receive it in the past, in addition to the forthcoming medical assessment for incoming doctors.
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Give all women a menopause check at 45, MPs told
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Women should be invited for a menopause check-up when they turn 45, a report for MPs says, criticising the current support as completely inadequate. The Menopause All-Party Parliamentary Group says it has listened carefully to women's experiences, including difficulties getting a diagnosis and accessing hormone-replacement therapy (HRT). Many had long waits or were offered antidepressants, against guidelines. The report covers a year-long inquiry. It says action is needed to improve the situation for those going through the menopause, and the families, friends and colleagues affected by it. And a health check offered to all women in their mid-40s, as they approach the perimenopause - when hormones decline and menopausal symptoms, such as hot flushes and night sweats, can begin - should help ensure the necessary support and care as early as possible. The inquiry heard a 39-year-old who suspected she was perimenopausal was turned away by her GP and told to "wait and see". Some 18 months later, she was "almost at the verge of collapsing, struggling to keep my usually happy marriage on track and not functioning well physically or mentally". The report also warns a socio-economic divide is emerging between women able to access the right treatment and those who lose out in the postcode lottery and do not have the financial means to seek treatment elsewhere. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 October 2022 -
Content ArticleTommy Jessop is an actor and campaigner who wants to use his voice to make sure people with a learning disability are heard. He's known to millions for his role as Terry Boyle on the UK TV series Line of Duty. He also has Down's syndrome, which puts him among the 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK at risk of having their lives cut short by illnesses that can be treated or prevented. For a BBC Panorama, he has been investigating the failures of healthcare which contribute to people with a learning disability having a life expectancy 20 years shorter than non-disabled people. He found cases where disabled people were not listened to, where they were neglected, and where families had to fight for appropriate treatment instead of their loved ones being allowed to die. Tommy says he has always had good care from the NHS but that's not always the case for other people like him. An NHS report found that in nearly half of cases where a person with a learning disability died before the age of 75, the cause was a preventable or treatable illness. For everyone else, that figure was 22%. Reviewing more than 3,500 deaths of people with a learning disability, the NHS found that in nearly a third of cases there was no evidence of good practice. Tommy and Panorama examined thousands of coroners' reports from the past nine years. They also heard the stories of four people with a learning disability who had been affected by poor care.
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NICE and health inequalities (October 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in NICE
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Positively equal: How NICE is working to help reduce health inequalities
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a calendar event in Community Calendar
untilJoin us and discover first-hand how the equitable implementation of NICE recommendations ensures that care provided is effective, makes efficient use of resources and reduces inequalities and unwarranted variation. Discover how we are aligning what we do with Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and wider system priorities and how our evidence-based recommendations are aligned to recognised health inequalities frameworks such as Labonte and Marmot. Register for the event -
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