Health Management and Policy Alert

The impact of hardship on primary schools and primary and community healthcare

Joseph Rowntree Foundation - 

Across Britain, millions of people are experiencing hardship, by which we mean they are going without basic essentials such as enough food, heating and appropriate clothing, because they cannot afford them. This report asks what impact hardship is having on the delivery of services in primary schools and primary and community healthcare setting such as GP surgeries.

• Report
• Press release

Excellence through equality: anti-racism as a quality improvement tool

NHS Confederation - 

This report comprises examples of anti-racist initiatives from BME Leadership Network members, to help advance equality within the workforce and for service users.

• Report
• More detail

An investment not a drain: healthcare leaders’ views on EDI in the NHS

NHS Confederation -
Of the 560 NHS leaders who responded to an NHS Confederation survey asking for their views on the current state of equality and diversity across the health service, all said that investment in EDI was integral to improving care. The survey found that 96% of leaders say that the NHS still has issues of discrimination to overcome in access, experience and outcomes for patients.

• Briefing
• NHS Confederation - press release

Too hot to handle? Why concerns about racism are not heard … or acted on

brap - 

This report from brap (an equalities and human rights charity) shows the health service is still falling short in tackling race discrimination. The report argues there is a culture of avoidance, defensiveness, and minimisation of racism within NHS trusts. The report brings together key learning from a number of significant tribunal cases and survey responses from over 1,300 NHS staff to explore how healthcare organisations respond to allegations of racism.

• Report
• More detail

Pursuing racial justice in mental health: how the voluntary sector can help meet the needs of racialised communities

Centre for Mental Health - 

This report shares insights from people living and working in Bradford District and Craven about how racism causes poor mental health, stops people from accessing services, affects people’s experiences of treatment, and hinders their recovery. The report explores how health and care services across the country can build stronger partnerships with community organisations to design and deliver mental health support that overcomes the harms and barriers caused by racism.

• Report
• More detail

 

Where are our nation’s donors?

All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethnicity Transplantation and Transfusion - 

The report says that the UK’s mixed heritage and ethnic minority population face a double whammy of inequity as they are more likely to need donors due to conditions which disproportionately affect them, such as sickle cell and kidney disease, but less likely to find well-matched donors on the blood, stem cell and organ donor registers. This is particularly true for patients in need of stem cell transplants for the treatment of blood cancer, where matched tissue type (most often found in donors from a similar ethnic background) is critical to successful outcomes. Key recommendations include: improved governance and accountability; improved data, reporting and transparency; and improved education, awareness and activity.

• Report
• More detail

Patient and carer race equality framework

NHS England - 
This document outlines the participatory approach to anti-racism that mental health trusts and mental health providers should take to improve experiences of care for racialised and ethnically and culturally diverse communities.

• Guidance

Ethnic inequalities in Improving Access to Talking Therapies (IAPT)

NHS Race and Health Observatory - 
This review of ten years of anonymised patient data has found that historically, people from Black and minoritised ethnic backgrounds have experienced poorer access to, and outcomes from, NHS talking therapies. It finds that poor outcomes can be tackled and even disappear when access is improved and culturally sensitive therapy is provided.

• Report
• Press release

Closing the gap: a guide to addressing racial discrimination in disciplinaries

NHS Providers - 

Despite annual measurement and reporting on this metric since 2015, the disciplinary gap in the NHS persists, with ethnic minority staff being disproportionately likely to enter formal disciplinary processes compared to their white counterparts. This guide, produced in collaboration in collaboration with the healthcare law firm Hempsons aims to support board members to have an increased awareness and understanding of the existing disparity and provides practical advice and examples of how the gap can be reduced.

• Guide
• Press release

A constant battle: exploring the intergenerational consequences of racism in the UK

Centre for Mental Health (CMH) - 

This briefing finds that racism has far-reaching impacts on parents, their children, and the relationships between them. Based on research between the CMH and King’s College London with both parents and teenagers from UK racialised communities, it finds that both past and present experiences of racism can affect mental health across generations of a family. The briefing calls on the government to commit to tackling all forms of racism through a cross-government strategy. It also says that the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England should fully resource work with racialised communities to design more racially equitable mental health support.

• Report
• Press release