Health Management and Policy Alert

Unequal impact? coronavirus, disability and access to services: Government response to the Committee’s fourth report

House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee -
The Committee published the original report in December 2020 and this is the Government response. It replies to the recommendations on food accessibility, the Public Sector Equality Duty, the impacts on health and social care and education among others. It also outlines plans for the National Strategy for Disabled Strategy, to be published in spring 2021.

• Report
• Women and Equalities Committee - press release

Crisis, communities, change: demands for an equitable recovery

Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) - 

This report explores how communities have fared during the pandemic. The survey of 2,600 people in Great Britain, including a weighted sample of 1,000 people from ethnic minority backgrounds, was carried out by Savanta ComRes for the RSA. Amongst the findings was that discrimination in local services was twice as high among ethnic minorities: 52 per cent of Asian and 50 per cent of Black respondents have faced discrimination when accessing local services – compared to 19 per cent of the white population. The data suggests that institutional distrust because of discrimination may play a role in vaccine hesitancy.

• Report
• Press release

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: the report

Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities -
This report includes a chapter on health which looks at life expectancy, cancer, diabetes, obesity, maternal mortality as well as access to health care, Covid-19 and more.

• Report
• Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities - publications

Ethnic diversity in fertility treatment 2018

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) - 
This report looks at how access to, and outcomes of fertility treatment, differed by ethnic group between 2014 and 2018. It finds disparities in the experience of patients from ethnic minority backgrounds and makes recommendations for the HFEA, fertility clinics and commissioners to help better understand the root of these inequalities so that action can be taken to improve access and outcomes for ethnic minority groups.

• Report

The Royal College – our professional home: an independent review on diversity and inclusion for the Royal College of Surgeons of England

Royal College of Surgeons of England -
This report sets out a sixteen-point plan for improving diversity within surgery and Royal College of Surgeons of England. It follows an independent review of diversity in the College’s professional leadership conducted by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. The report highlights some of the College’s strengths in fostering a diverse surgical community, including the Women in Surgery Network and the Lady Estelle Wolfson Emerging Leaders Fellowship. However, it also includes personal accounts of the discrimination surgeons face in their day-to-day practice and interactions with the College.

• Report
• Royal College of Surgeons of England - news

Workforce Race Equality Standard: 2020 data analysis report for NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups

NHS England -
This report enables organisations to compare their performance with others in their region and those providing similar services, with the aim of encouraging improvement by learning and sharing good practice. The report hopes to provide a national picture of WRES in practice, to colleagues, organisations and the public on the developments in the workforce race equality agenda.

• Report
• NHS England - publications

The health of people from ethnic minority groups in England

The King's Fund - 
This explainer examines the differences in health outcomes for ethnic minority groups, highlighting the variation across groups and conditions, and considers what’s needed to reduce health inequalities.

• Long read

Supporting the LGBTQ+ population through COVID-19 and beyond

NHS Confederation - 
Leaders from across the healthcare system agree that for the LGBTQ+ population to recover and thrive after the pandemic, the way services are designed and delivered, and the workforce environments they are delivered in, must change. This report sets out a series of recommendations to help healthcare leaders, service designers and commissioners ensure their services and workplaces meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ population

• Report
• Press release

Communications toolkit for local maternity teams to improve communications with Black, Asian and minority ethnic women

NHS England -
This toolkit aims to provide helpful suggestions about how to communicate with women of different backgrounds, about the extra support that is available to them, as well as signposting to currently available publications, messaging, insights and templates.

• Toolkit
• NHS England - publications

Perspectives from the front line: the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on BME communities

NHS Confederation -
This report finds that the effects of long-standing health and socio-economic inequalities and institutional racism lie behind the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. It distils the findings of a research study into the underlying factors. It is based on interviews with BME NHS leaders, clinicians, community organisations and service users, and a survey of over 100 members of the NHS Confederation’s BME Leadership Network.

• Report
• NHS Confederation - news