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Over recent weeks, we have seen a number of employment tribunals, independent reviews and an active petition to the UK Government to commission an independent inquiry into injustices suffered by Black, Asian and ethnic minority NHS staff
First-hand accounts of patients suffering acute, painful sickle cell episodes reveal poor experience of hospital care outlined in a new report published today.
First Do No Harm, the independent review of the safety of medicines and medical devices led by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, found that patients’ voices were ignored, and that the health system did not listen and act, but was defensive, dismissive, and disjointed. As the first ever Patient Safety Commissioner I have been listening to patients and patient safety experts to understand what needs to improve.
I came to the UK when my family moved from Kenya in 1968. It was a time when racism was overt in society, with signage in windows of flats to let openly stating “no blacks” and racial attacks such as “paki-bashing” were commonplace.
General interventions and medications such as hydroxyurea, morphine and blood transfusions were hit and miss, usually giving relief for a period but the sickling would return with vengeance.
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This report represents one of many steps needed to help understand the factors that shape race inequality in health, including the forces of structural racism and discrimination, and to begin to respond to them with impactful changes. Knowing how the system works, and how it interacts with underserved communities, is an important step towards rebuilding that system in a way that truly has equality at its core. We invite those reading this report to join us on that journey.
This report draws on a longer study we commissioned from The King’s Fund (Chauhan et al 2021).
