Health Management and Policy Alert

The cost of racism: how ethnic health inequalities are standing in the way of growth

NHS Race and Health Observatory -
This briefing considers the benefits of taking an economic approach to assess the costs of racial discrimination to the NHS, individuals and to the economy. It explores a broad array of ethnic inequalities in health care which lead to excessive and avoidable costs and reduce efficiency in the economy.

• Briefing
• NHS Race and Health Observatory - news

How racism affects health

Health Foundation - 

This report, published jointly with the Runnymede Trust, examines the relationship between racism and health outcomes. The report shows how people of colour experience three building blocks of good health: employment, income and where people live, and finds large, unacceptable variations according to ethnicity. Going forward, a credible health prevention agenda needs to: take steps to embed racial equity in policy and decision making around the building blocks of health; work with communities of colour to co-produce strategies to further understand and address racism in the building blocks of health; and improve data quality and collection to enable effective monitoring of impact.

• Report
• Press release

Patient experience and trust in NHS primary care

NHS Race & Health Observatory - 

Despite primary care services often being the first point of contact with the NHS for patients, this report highlights a worrying lack of trust amongst certain ethnic minority groups of the service or care that they receive. A third of South Asian participants say they rarely or never trust primary care to meet their health needs. Over 2,680 people competed the primary care ‘trust’ survey issued by the NHS Race and Health Observatory in 2022, which sought views on a broad range of areas including overall trust in, and satisfaction with, primary care providers, and levels of satisfaction with remote healthcare services.

• Report
• Press release

The illusion of inclusion? LGBTQ+ staff experience in healthcare

NHS Confederation - 

LGBTQ+ staff represent one in 20 of the NHS workforce, yet successive NHS staff surveys have shown that there is persistent inequity in staff experience. The Health and Care LGBTQ+ Leaders Network conducted its largest ever survey with its members in August 2024 – with a remit to delve deeper and capture specific insight to better understand the trends exposed in the NHS Staff Survey. This briefing provides a snapshot of the main findings.

• Briefing
• Press release

 

Demographics, professions and concerns: patterns in Practitioner Performance Advice cases with a focus on IMGs

NHS Resolution - 

This annual practitioner characteristics paper looks at 3,645 practitioners for whom NHS Resolution received a request for advice over a five-year period from April 2019 to March 2024 and provides an update of our publication from last year. Consistent with last year’s analysis, it finds that international medical graduates (IMGs), those from an ethnic minority background and practitioners who are older or male, continue to be overrepresented in concerns reported to us by employers and contracting bodies. This year’s analysis shows that behaviour/misconduct features in 73% of the cases, which has not changed substantially from last year’s findings of 70% of cases involving this type of concern.

• Paper
• More detail

A space to be me: Young Changemakers tackling racial inequalities in Black young people’s mental health

Centre for Mental Health - 

The Young Changemakers programme was a groundbreaking three-year programme, funded by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and Comic Relief, supporting young Black people to develop their own social action projects to address the links between racial injustice and poor mental health. This report consolidates three years of data and insights from the programme, incorporating findings from both a comprehensive evaluation and primary research
conducted with young Black people in 2023.

• Report
• More detail

Counting the cost: understanding your ethnicity pay gap

NHS Providers - 

This guide has been co-produced with leading healthcare law firm Hempsons, to support trust board members to understand their organisation's ethnicity pay gap.

• Guide
• Alternative format

Policy position: racial and ethnic equality in women’s health

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) - 

This statement sets out the RCOG’s position and recommendations on the key areas for change across NHS England and UK government policy to address inequalities in Black, Asian and minority ethnic women’s health and care.

• Position statement
• Press release

Equality, diversity and inclusion: targets, progress and priorities for 2024

General Medical Council -
This report finds that inequality is embedded in medicine throughout a doctor’s career, from the earliest days of education and training to the leadership positions of latter years. It concludes that there needs to be a cultural shift, and a focus on longer-term systemic issues, across UK health care, if inequalities are to be eradicated.

• Report
• General Medical Council - news

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