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Showing results for tags 'Health inequalities'.
Found 1,225 results
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Content ArticleIn this briefing the British Heart Foundation highlights the stark inequalities in awareness, diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks that are leading to women needlessly dying every day in the UK.
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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.
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Content ArticleIn our final 2-minute Tuesday session of July 2020, Patient Safety Learning's Chief Executive, Helen discusses Baroness Cumberlege’s report ‘First Do No Harm’. She focuses on how the report amplifies the voices of women, identifying the scale and severity of harm going back decades to thousands of women. She adds: "This has been a problem hidden in plain sight that is now being exposed." Helen asks listeners whether they agree that transformational change is needed in the health and social care system to address these issues. Read more on our thoughts and the actions in response to the Cumberlege Review.
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Content ArticleIn this article for Stylist, Sarah Graham, founder of the Hysterical Women blog, looks at the statistics around gender and heart attacks and gender. She highlights the worrying disparities and argues that sexism plays a dangerous role. The term Yentl Syndrome is used to describe the different ways men and women are treated after heart attacks.
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Content ArticleThis US study, published in Pediatrics, found that even among apparently healthy children, being African American is strongly associated with a higher risk of postoperative complications and mortality. Mechanisms underlying the established racial differences in postoperative outcomes may not be fully explained by the racial variation in preoperative comorbidity.
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NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Health inequalities
The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is a set of metrics that would requires NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against a number of indicators of race equality, including a specific indicator to address the low representation of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff on Boards. NHS providers are expected to show progress against a number of indicators of workforce equality, including a specific indicator to address the low numbers of BME board members across the organisation. Follow the link below to find out more about WRES and to access the annual reports. -
Content ArticlePrevious studies have revealed racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in quality of care and patient safety. However, these disparities have not been examined in a paediatric inpatient environment by using a measure of clinically confirmed adverse events (AEs). In this study, the Global Assessment of Pediatric Patient Safety (GAPPS) Trigger Tool was used. The GAPPS analysis revealed racial and/or ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in rates of AEs experienced by hospitalised children across a broad range of geographic and hospital settings. Further investigation may reveal underlying mechanisms of these disparities and could help hospitals reduce harm. This study was published by US-based journal, Hospital Pediatrics.
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Content ArticlePatient safety is a quality indicator for primary care and it should be based on individual needs, and not differ among different social groups. Nevertheless, the attention on social disparities in patient safety has been mainly directed towards the hospital care, often overlooking the primary care setting. This paper, published in the International Journal for Equity in Health, aims to synthesise social disparities in patient safety in the primary care setting. The results of this systematic review suggest that vulnerable social groups are likely to experience adverse patient safety events in primary care. Enhancing family doctors’ awareness of these inequities is a necessary first step to tackle them and improve patient safety for all patients. Future research should focus on social disparities in patient safety using socioeconomic indicators, such as income and education.
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Content ArticleNHS Reset is an NHS Confederation campaign to help shape what the health and care system should look like in the aftermath of the pandemic. In this blog, part of a series of comment pieces from NHS Confederation members and partners, Rachel Power reflects on how COVID-19 has brought health inequalities into sharp focus and how it will take a nationwide effort to reduce them.
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Content ArticleThe aim of the study, published in the Journal of Patient Safety, was to determine whether race differences exist in voluntarily reported harmful patient safety events in a large 10 hospital healthcare system on a high reliability organisation journey. Findings showed that race differences in harmful events exist in voluntary reporting systems by type and by hospital setting. Healthcare organisations, particularly healthcare high reliability organisations, can use these findings to help identify areas of further study and investigation. Further study and investigation should include efforts to understand the root cause of the differences found in this study, including the role of reporting bias.
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Content ArticleMore Inclusive Healthcare (MIH) works to positively impact disparities, providing customisable solutions to help teams measure and improve outcomes, enhance cultural responsiveness and strengthen the fault lines. MIH is based in the USA.
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Content ArticleThe goal of this US-based study, published in Psychiatric Services, was to characterise racial-ethnic differences in mental health care utilisation associated with postpartum depression in a multi-ethnic cohort of Medicaid recipients. Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with medical costs for some people with limited income and resources. Findings of the study presents evidence of low rates of postpartum depression treatment initiation and continuation, indicating barriers to care among low-income mothers; racial-ethnic disparities imply additional challenges for black women and Latinas. The presence of such disparities points to the need for clinical and institutional policies and programs to address the particular barriers to mental health care faced by black women and Latinas in the months after delivery.
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Content ArticleIn this podcast from TEN, Dr Shikta Das, Scientific Lead from C4X Discovery and lecturer at University College London, discusses the COVID-19 pandemic and the risks to the BAME community.
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Content ArticleThis guidance is to support Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS England in meeting their legal duties in respect of equality and health inequalities. CCGs and NHS England play key roles in addressing equality and health inequalities; as commissioners, as employers and as local and national system leaders, in creating high quality care for all.
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Content ArticleGood foot health and care play an important role in improving overall health and wellbeing of the general population. However, the observations of nurses and podiatrists suggest that people experiencing homelessness, particularly rough sleepers, experience worse foot health than the wider population. This guidance, from the Queens Nursing Institute, was developed in partnership with podiatrists with experience of working with people who are homeless, and is intended as a resource for community nurses and allied health professionals. It can be used as a reference by others with an interest in the health of people who are homeless, such as hostel staff, day-centre staff and support workers.
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Content ArticleEvidence to date indicates that patients from ethnic minority backgrounds may experience disparity in the quality and safety of health care they receive due to a range of socio-cultural factors. Although heightened risk of patient safety events is of key concern, there is a dearth of evidence regarding the nature and rate of patient safety events occurring amongst ethnic minority consumers, which is critical for the development of relevant intervention approaches to enhance the safety of their care.The findings of this systematic review, published in the International Journal for Equity in Health, provide substantial evidence to suggest that people from ethnic minorities are vulnerable to a higher rate of patient safety events in the hospital and community setting compared to the mainstream population.
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Content ArticleThe tragic higher COVID-19 mortality in African Americans and other racial/ethnic minorities confirms inadequate societal efforts to eliminate disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is a sentinel event, highlighting deep-rooted US healthcare failures. The Joint Commission defines a sentinel event as an unexpected occurrence resulting in death or serious physical or psychological injury, or the risk thereof. Conventionally identified sentinel events, such as unintended retention of foreign objects and fall-related events, are used to evaluate quality in hospital care. Similarly, disparate African Americans COVID-19 mortality reflects long-standing, unacceptable US racial/ethnic and socioeconomic CVD inequities and unmasks system failures and unacceptable care to be caught and mitigated. Ferdinand and Nasser explore this further in their article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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The MBRRACE-UK Saving Lives, Improving Mothers' Care report found that black women in the UK are five times as likely as white women to die during pregnancy or childbirth. -
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Transforming the cycle of cancer care (December 2017)
Claire Cox posted an article in Keeping patients safe
With cancer prevalence in the UK increasing, the Patients Association led a panel of experts in a discussion to address the negative cycle of cancer care that can sometimes exist. -
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Emerging evidence on health inequalities and COVID-19: May 2020
Claire Cox posted an article in Health inequalities
A recent Health Foundation long read suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic could be a watershed moment in creating the social and political will to build a society that values everyone’s health – now and in the long term. The global pandemic and the wider governmental and societal response, is certainly bringing health inequalities into sharp focus. And it has been apparent from the early stages of the pandemic that some groups are at much higher risk of catching and dying from the virus than others. Factors such as age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation are all known to be important. Critically, these factors combine in complex ways to put some people at much greater risk. In addition, the measures taken to control the spread of the virus are having unequal socioeconomic impacts, which are likely to deepen health inequalities in the long term. Over the coming months, the Health Foundation will continue to round up key evidence on COVID-19 and inequalities. In this article the Health Foundation give an overview of some key themes emerging from recent work on the unequal impact of COVID-19, focusing on how children and young people are being affected, and the economic effects of the pandemic. -
Content ArticleBlack women in the UK are five times more likely to die during pregnancy and after childbirth compared to white women (MBRRACE, 2019). A petition recently called for more research into why this is happening and recommendations to improve healthcare for Black Women as urgent action is needed to address this disparity. The petition exceeded the threshold of 100,000 signatures required in order to be considered for debate in Parliament. The Government issued this written response on 25 June 2020.
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Content ArticleMore than 1 in 10 women will experience postnatal depression within the first year after giving birth. With a recent study showing that postnatal depression is 13% higher among black and ethnic minority women than it is among white women, it raises significant questions around whether these women are receiving the right treatment and support.
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Content ArticleSix years ago The Snowy White Peaks of the NHS highlighted the scale of race discrimination in the NHS, the UK’s biggest employer of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff. COVID-19 has shown so much more needs to be done. 300 health and social care staff have died so far from COVID-19, a disproportionate number of BME heritage. We know NHS staff infection was overwhelmingly due to occupational exposure whose causes are varied but include the disproportionate BME staff role in patient-facing services, their poorer access to appropriate PPE, the greater reluctance of BME staff to raise concerns, disproportionate deployment into “hotter” roles, and the greater presence of BME colleagues amongst agency staff. BME staff have been largely absent from decision-making. The COVID-19 impact on BME staff, and Black Lives Matter, has prompted promises to tackle racism more resolutely. So what should NHS leaders do to ensure faster progress to tackle workforce race discrimination? Roger Kline, in this BMJ Leader blog, has ten suggestions for Boards and Integrated Care System system leaders.
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Content ArticleThere is clear evidence that COVID-19 does not affect all population groups equally. Many analyses have shown that older age, ethnicity, male sex and geographical area, for example, are associated with the risk of getting the infection, experiencing more severe symptoms and higher rates of death. This work has been commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer for England to understand the extent that ethnicity impacts upon risk and outcomes. The Public Health England (PHE) review of disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 shows that there is an association between belonging to some ethnic groups and the likelihood of testing positive and dying with COVID-19. Genetics were not included in the scope of the review.
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More Inclusive Healthcare
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Suggest a useful website
More Inclusive Healthcare helps healthcare organisations in the United States do the good work of making healthcare more inclusive and equitable so that everyone will have the opportunity to achieve their full health potential.
