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Showing results for tags 'Racism'.
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News ArticleSocioeconomic inequalities account for an estimated quarter of stillbirths, fifth of preterm births, and a third of births with fetal growth restriction, according to a study published in the Lancet of over one million births in England The nationwide study across England’s NHS was carried out by the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit team, who analysed birth records between April 2015 and March 2017 to quantify socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in pregnancy outcomes. They found that an estimated two thirds (63.7%) of stillbirths and half (55.0%) of births with fetal growth restriction in black women from the most deprived neighbourhoods could be avoided if this population had the same risks as white women living in the most affluent 20% of neighbourhoods. Read full story (paywalled) Source: BMJ, 2 November 2021
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Content ArticleThis nationwide study of over 1 million births in the English NHS between 2015 and 2017, published in The Lancet, has found large inequalities in pregnancy outcomes between ethnic and socioeconomic groups in England. The findings from Jardine et al. suggest that current national programmes to make pregnancy safer, which focus on individual women's risk and behaviour and their antenatal care, will not be enough to improve outcomes for babies born in England. The authors say that to reduce disparities in birth outcomes at a national level, politicians, public health professionals, and healthcare providers must work together to address racism and discrimination and improve women's social circumstances, social support, and health throughout their lives.
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Content ArticleThe East of England share their race strategy.
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News Article
Staff frightened to speak about NHS trust bullying
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A culture of bullying and racial discrimination has been found at a hospital trust, according to an inspection report. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said there was a bullying culture across Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust, with many staff too frightened to speak up. The trust has been told it requires improvement as a result of the report. NUH said it was working to address the concerns. The report said a number of the bullying cases were directly attributable to racial discrimination. It said the trust's latest staff survey showed the organisation was above average for black, Asian and minority ethnic staff experiencing bullying. Sarah Dunnett, the CQC's head of hospital inspection, said they were told of bullying incidents that had not been addressed. "We were concerned about the culture of bullying across the trust with many staff being too frightened to speak up," she said. She said the CQC would "monitor the service closely" to ensure changes were made. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 September 2021 -
Content Article
House of Commons Debate - Black Maternal Health Week (14 September 2021)
Mark Hughes posted an article in Maternity
This is the transcript of a Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons on Black Maternal Health Awareness Week, dedicated to raising awareness about the disparities in maternal outcomes for Black women. -
News ArticleNHS leaders are being urged to tackle racist abuse of staff as new figures reveal that a third of black, Asian or minority ethnic workers in mental health trusts in England have experienced harassment, bullying or attacks by patients, relatives or members of the public. One in three (32.7%) BAME staff in mental health settings have experienced abuse, according to analysis by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. For BAME workers across the NHS, the rate is more than one in four (28.9%). One medical director told the Guardian that hot tea had been thrown at them “because of the colour of my skin”. A psychiatrist told how they were left traumatised after they were racially abused – then threatened with a knife. The college is calling on health leaders to take a stand against discrimination by setting up better processes in NHS trusts to record and understand data about bullying and harassment. Dr Adrian James, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the findings were deeply concerning. He said: “NHS leaders and local health bosses must tackle this head-on.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 9 September 2021
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Content ArticleThis report, No Patient Left Behind, has been published by The APPG on Stem Cell Transplantation and Advanced Cellular Therapies, following an inquiry into barriers which patients face when accessing treatment and care.
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News Article
Minority ethnic staff ‘told to adopt Western names’ by managers
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Concerns have been raised amid allegations that hospital managers have told minority ethnic staff to adopt 'Western work names' as their original names were 'too difficult to pronounce'. In a letter from the Care Quality Commission, published in the trust's July board papers, workers at University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Foundation Trust told inspectors about their experiences during an unannounced visit in June. “This is not acceptable, individuals can only truly thrive in a work environment where they feel safe as themselves and belong rather than having to ‘fit in’.” Wrote the CQC’s head of hospital inspections Amanda Williams. Read full story (paywalled). Source: HSJ, 4 August 2021 -
News Article
Hospital staff complain to regulator about bullying, harassment and racism
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Hospital staff at the Royal London Hospital have complained about bullying, harassment, racism and sexism during an inspection by the care watchdog. After conducting a review of the imagining department at the Royal London Hospital and Whipps Cross Hospital, there are now concerns over the culture of the service and conflict between staff. With both hospitals being overseen by Barts Health NHS Trust, chief executive Dame Alwen Williams has said “We will be ensuring staff have the resources to sustain improvements we need to make and there is appropriate oversight and processes in place for escalating wellbeing issues. We have a responsibility to listen to what our hard working team are saying, and respond appropriately and sensitively." Read full story. Source: The Independent, 30 July 2021 -
Content ArticleThis blog, published in The Journal of Medical Ethics, is authored by individuals from New Zealand, Australia and the UK. They draw on their co-produced Cultural Safety framework to address structural iatrogenesis where patients are harmed by unconscious or conscious racist power imbalances in the bureaucratic and cultural systems within healthcare systems, including those systems originally intended to help them. Included is an infographic to illustrate the Cultural Safety Tree Model and how to translate Cultural Safety to the UK. Person-centred care, staff reflexivity, structural reflexivity and listening to the voices of the recipients of healthcare are the crucial roots to this model.
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Content ArticleIn this article, published by Ayiecho Odembi Consultancy, the author draws on personal experiences as a Black nurse and Patient to illustrate the link between racism and patient safety. "Nursing while black on the NHS is a skill I had mastered but nothing had prepared me for being a patient while black on the NHS and how the system is stacked against you and how lonely, frustrating, anxious, helpless and dare I say angry you feel while also wrestling with the guilt of essentially raging against your employer and not wanting to cause a fuss because it is the NHS, you love the NHS, you are constantly reminded how lucky we are to have the NHS, so it would be in very bad faith to complain."
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EventThe NHS is the biggest UK employer of Black and Minority Ethnic staff. More action needs to be taken to tackle disparities and prejudice to make our NHS more equitable for staff and patients alike. Dr Anu Obaro has recently shared her experiences through a BOB impact story, in which she has reflected on how she presented the subject to her peers at a roundtable event. Join Dr Anu Obaro and guests for a one-hour webinar as they discuss how you can take action to instil anti-racism where you work. In this webinar, you will learn: How racism can be institutionalised. How you can spread and scale the learnings from Dr Obaro’s write-up on BOB. How you can gather data to demonstrate outcomes in your workplace. Register
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Content Article
Assessment of the skin is an important element of neonatal examination. Midwives need to develop knowledge and skills in this area to recognise changes in the skin and understand what these signify. Historically, teaching in this area has been skewed towards changes seen in newborns with light skin tones, resulting in a gap in clinical knowledge and resources on the assessment of skin in newborns with darker skin tones. This article, published in The Practising Midwife, on the decolonisation of midwifery education and practice, focuses on clinical assessment of the skin when examining newborns. -
Content ArticleBOB.health is a UK learning platform. Usually, content is only accessible to NHS staff, Academic Health and Science Networks and other verified and approved non-commercial organisations serving the NHS to ensure BOB remains a safe space to share. Given the importance of this topic and with Dr Obaro’s blessing, Bob.health has chosen to make this particular story accessible to readers beyond the NHS and the UK. "My impact story describes how I created the presentation, "Why I want to talk about racism" and how I approached sharing my experience and insight with colleagues. To date, the talk has been viewed over 4400 times and the far-reaching impact has been worth the journey it took to create. Talking about racism is painful, uncomfortable, and challenging but by tackling it, I hope we can make the NHS more equitable for staff and patients." Follow the link below to request access to the full impact story.
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Content Article
CDC's Racism and Health website (8 April 2021)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Health inequalities
Rochelle P. Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), has declared racism a serious public health threat. Adding action to words, she highlighted several new efforts CDC is leading to accelerate its work to address racism as a fundamental driver of racial and ethnic health inequities in the United States. The CDC have unveiled a new website “Racism and Health” that will serve as a hub for the agency’s efforts and a catalyst for greater education and dialogue around these critical issues. -
News Article
‘I felt humiliated’: parents respond to NHS maternity care racial bias inquiry
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Feeling manipulated into having medical procedures, dismissed by professionals and labelled with racial stereotypes are among the complaints of parents who responded to a national inquiry into racial injustice in UK maternity care. A panel established by the charity Birthrights is investigating discrimination ranging from explicit racism to racial bias and microaggressions that amount to poorer care. It comes as parliament is due on 19 April to debate the large racial disparity in maternal mortality in British hospitals, after a petition from the campaign group Five X More gathered 187,519 signatures. Black women are four times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy or childbirth in the UK. Testimonies include that of a British Bangladeshi woman who said her labour concerns were dismissed. “I felt unsafe and like maternity professionals are not used to being challenged by brown women,” she said. “There is a stereotype of Asian women that we are tame, quiet and compliant people who have no voice and will be obedient. “I was treated like a vessel, not like a human. The experience left me feeling humiliated, disempowered and ashamed.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 13 April 2021 -
Content ArticleAli Raza uses the Swiss Cheese Model by James Reason to look at discrimination in the workplace.
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Content ArticleThe recent UK government report on race disparities is a missed opportunity and will lead to a worsening of systemic inequalities, say Razai, Majeed and Esmail in this BMJ Opinion article.
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News Article
Hospital operating theatres plagued by racist, sexist and homophobic abuse
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Racism, sexism, and homophobia is widespread in hospital operating theatres across England, according to an independent report. In a damning verdict on the atmosphere in some surgical teams, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC said the ‘old boys’ network of alpha male surgeons was preventing some doctors from rising to the top and had fuelled an oppressive environment for women, ethnic minorities and trainee surgeons. The report was commissioned by the Royal College of Surgeons and lays bare the "discrimination and unacceptable behaviour" taking place in some surgical teams. Baroness Kennedy told The Telegraph the field of surgery was "lagging behind" society, adding: "It is driven by an ethos which is very much alpha male, where white female surgeons are often assumed to be nurses and black women surgeons mistaken for the cleaner. And this is by the management. Read full story Source: The Independent, 18 March 2021 -
News ArticleA children’s nurse who raised legitimate concerns over racial discrimination at a major London trust was suspended and victimised by her managers for doing so, an employment tribunal has ruled. Jeyran Panahian-Jand, who worked on a children’s ward at Whipps Cross Hospital, parts of Barts Health Trust, had raised concerns with her manager in 2019 that staff were divided on “racial lines”, with an “unfair allocation of work”, as well as bullying of two junior staff. Her manager Heather Roberts, as well as other superiors, told Ms Panahian-Jand she should raise a formal complaint, without offering to look at the issues raised and keep the complaint informal, which the tribunal said they should have done under whistleblowing policies. Ms Roberts later accused Ms Panahian-Jand, who identified as white, of continuing to talk about her allegations on the ward, and with the agreement of Ghislaine Stephenson, the associate director of nursing for children, Ms Panahian-Jand was suspended for the “disruption” and “upset” she was causing, the tribunal judgment said. Ms Panahnian-Jand then lodged a formal complaint over race discrimination, as well as accusing two other bank nurses of making “racially abusive” remarks. A subsequent internal investigation supported three allegations of race discrimination made by Ms Panahian-Jand, while a separate probe into her own alleged misconduct found there was no case to answer. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 February 2021
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Content ArticleConvened shortly after President Trump’s inauguration in 2017, the Lancet Commission on public policy and health in the Trump era, offers the first comprehensive assessment of the detrimental legislation and executive actions during Trump’s presidency with devastating effects on every aspect of health in the USA. The Lancet Commission traces the decades of policy failures that preceded and fueled Trump’s ascent and left the USA lagging behind other high-income nations on life expectancy. The report warns that a return to pre-Trump era policies is not enough to protect health. Instead, sweeping reforms are needed to redress long-standing racism, weakened social and health safety nets that have deepened inequality, and calls on the important role of health professionals in advocating for health care reform in the USA.
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News Article
More deaths, worse care: inquiry opens into NHS maternity ‘systemic racism’
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An urgent inquiry to investigate how alleged systemic racism in the NHS manifests itself in maternity care will be launched on Tuesday with support from the UK charity Birthrights. The inquiry will apply a human rights lens to examine how claimed racial injustice – from explicit racism to bias – is leading to poorer health outcomes in maternity care for ethnic minority groups. Data published last month by MBRRACE-UK (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the country) showed black women were four times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK while women from Asian ethnic backgrounds face twice the risk. Barrister Shaheen Rahman QC, who will lead the inquiry, said: “In addition to these stark statistics there are concerns about higher rates of maternal illness, worse experiences of maternity care and the fact black and Asian pregnant women are far more likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19. “We want to understand the stories behind the statistics, to examine how people can be discriminated against due to their race and to identify ways this inequity can be redressed.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 7 February 2021 -
Content ArticleWith allegations into racial discrimination at the workplace rarely upheld by employers or courts, Roger Kline, Naledi Kline and Joy Warmington give a set of questions for investigators to ensure more robust investigations.
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Content ArticleRecent work has emphasised the benefits of patient-physician concordance on clinical care outcomes for underrepresented minorities, arguing it can boost communication and increase trust. Authors of this study explored concordance in a setting where racial disparities are particularly severe: childbirth. In the United States, Black newborns die at three times the rate of White newborns. Results examining 1.8 million hospital births in the state of Florida between 1992 and 2015 suggest that newborn-physician racial concordance is associated with a significant improvement in mortality for Black infants. Results further suggest that these benefits manifest during more challenging births and in hospitals that deliver more Black babies. They found no significant improvement in maternal mortality when birthing mothers share race with their physician. You can also read the news coverage in the Washington Post here. To access the research, follow the link below.
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Content ArticleResearch has shown differential attainment by ethnicity in the medical workforce across all measures of training and career progression. In this editorial, published in the BMJ, Victor Adebowale and Mala Rao argue that a race equality observatory is needed to provide leadership and data.
