New health bodies need "major rethink" on tackling discrimination, says watchdog

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called for a “major re-think” about how the proposed new health commissioning bodies tackle discrimination and advance equality.

The watchdog said the prevailing attitude was one of 'box-ticking'. It warned that without a significant change in approach, some groups in the population would continue to experience poorer health.

The comments followed a study by the EHRC which assessed the performance of nine strategic health authorities and 19 primary care trusts in relation to the race, gender and disability equality duties.

The research suggested that many bodies “were not taking sufficient action to address the diverse needs of people in Britain and to protect the rights of disadvantaged groups”, the Commission said.

According to the study, “there was very little in the way of joined up planning and delivery between equality plans and schemes and other mainstream strategies, plans, and programmes”.

It said much greater attention needed to be paid to leadership, commissioning, and employment than the assessment suggested had been the case up to this point.

The watchdog also claimed a lack of equality planning and reporting meant it was often unclear how the general duties were being delivered.

“A clear and urgent problem was identified with regards to a lack of action-orientated priorities and objectives with real and tangible outcomes,” the report added.

The EHRC suggested that SHAs and PCTs were failing effectively to hold dependent organisations and providers to account.

Key health issues identified by the EHRC that need addressing as part of the re-think include:

• Men are less likely to report health conditions than women, leading to worse implications for their health
• Infant mortality is higher than average among Black Caribbean and Pakistani groups
• Muslim people tend to report worse health than average, and
• Women report higher incidences of mental health conditions.

The EHRC has called for a requirement that health authorities collect data to ensure they have the right evidence base on which to make decisions, and provide guidance to the people making decisions about commissioning.

Andrea Murray, Director of Policy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “The introduction of the new equality duty and the reorganisation of the NHS is a good time for health bodies to re-think their approach to equality. Our research shows that many health organisations see equality as a box ticking exercise, and few were able to show they have used the duties to make a real difference to the health outcomes of particular groups.

“Acting upon the equality duty will help health organisations to develop effective services that meet patients’ needs, improve the health of the population and tackle disadvantage faced by particular groups.”

A copy of the research report can be downloaded here.