Using evidence to reduce health inequalities

The Race Equality Foundation has been successful in receiving a grant from the Department of Health Innovation Fund to continue to work with primary care trust to embed race equality in service development and provision.

Evidence from our Better Health briefing papers and recent government documents acknowledges that people from black and minority ethnic groups in general and Bangladeshi groups in particular, feel they lack choice in health services. Because the majority of black and minority ethnic people in England live in the poorest areas with the least resources, they can receive poorer quality services and report greater dissatisfaction with them.

Existing services are moving well towards promoting race equality. However, there is continuing concern that primary care trusts are not making the best use of their population data to address health inequalities. Also, that access to good quality GP care is still a ‘postcode lottery’. It will be important to identify exactly where the under-performance lies, and target the programme to some of these areas.
The using evidence to reduce health inequalities project is a three-year programme that aims to engage front line public health personnel in evidence-based learning. This learning will equip them to better meet the needs of black and minority ethnic communities.
We will design, develop and test five new evidence based training packages, in twelve Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) within six Strategic Health Authorities. These packages will focus on a range of topics, some general, for example, the impact of racism on health and Communication with service users; others will focus on the health needs of particular communities for example, Gypsies and Travellers, Bangladeshi women; or Chinese men. The packages will assist in reducing health inequalities through use of evidence, clear information, outreach and prevention. They will facilitate front line staff to put evidence into practice.
The project started in April 2009 and we have recruited a majority of the twelve PCTs to take part in our learning programme with front line staff. Piloting has begun, with Norfolk PCT hosting a session with trainee health trainers on the topic of Racism and Health; and Bristol PCT hosting a session on Communication with service users with a mixture of front line staff, including health visitors and speech and language therapists.
For further information about this work, contact Ronny Flynn at the Race Equality Foundation via email ronny@racefound.org.uk or view the project outline at www.raceequalityfoundation.org.uk/health