Question
The British Medical Association resolved in September that more needed to be done to ensure equality of medical treatment for BAME and for transgender people in the UK.
16.4% of WBC residents are BAME, and government estimates suggest we can expect somewhere between 500–1,300 of our residents to be transgender. Failing to appropriately meet healthcare needs of minority populations can have serious effects on both physical and mental health, as we’ve seen recently with the much higher death rates of BAME people during the Covid pandemic.
I am hearing that BAME and transgender residents are experiencing issues as their healthcare needs are not always well understood by healthcare professionals leading to problems with them getting the healthcare that they need.
With this in mind, how do we in Wokingham Borough plan to respond to this BMA resolution – by, for example, consulting with these communities on how we can improve the way that their physical and mental healthcare needs are met; by bringing our healthcare professionals into this dialogue; and by continuing as a Council to monitor how well these residents are supported?
Minutes:
Question
The British Medical Association resolved in September that more needed to be done to ensure equality of medical treatment for BAME and for transgender people in the UK.
16.4% of WBC residents are BAME, and government estimates suggest we can expect somewhere between 500–1,300 of our residents to be transgender. Failing to appropriately meet healthcare needs of minority populations can have serious effects on both physical and mental health, as we’ve seen recently with the much higher death rates of BAME people during the Covid pandemic.
I am hearing that BAME and transgender residents are experiencing issues as their healthcare needs are not always well understood by healthcare professionals leading to problems with them getting the healthcare that they need.
With this in mind, how do we in Wokingham Borough plan to respond to this BMA resolution – by, for example, consulting with these communities on how we can improve the way that their physical and mental healthcare needs are met; by bringing our healthcare professionals into this dialogue; and by continuing as a Council to monitor how well these residents are supported?
Answer
1. how the Council will consult
2. how the Council will bring in healthcare professionals
3. and how the Council will monitor resident support.
With respect to (1), organisations across the Berkshire West Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) are engaging with various protected characteristics groups, and we are looking to identify and share this intelligence across partners as part of our ongoing approach to tackling health inequalities. This includes work with the Voluntary & Community Sector Organisations and with various faith groups. We are particularly looking to engage with BAMER (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic & Refugees) communities, given the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on these communities.
With respect to (2), which relates to how the Council will bring in healthcare professionals, we can assist in facilitating the involvement of relevant healthcare professionals, whether from providers or from commissioners. We have a great diverse workforce with BAME across the ICP, the Berkshire West Integrated Care Partnership, to contribute and support delivery.
With respect to (3), which is how the Council will monitor residents support, both the Royal Berkshire and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trusts are currently considering how to better understand differences in access and outcomes for different patient groups. In addition, Berkshire Healthcare are also co-producing priorities for improving the experience of the trans service users.
Working with system partners, we are now building on how we engage with various communities, and looking to co-produce improvements, as can be seen in our early work with respect to Covid-19 vaccine take-up. Recently, the CCG secured 2020/21 winter pressures funding specifically aimed at supporting the mental health of people from BAMER communities over the winter. The CCG is currently considering how best to ensure health inequalities feed in and are a priority for the ICP in 2021/22.
Supplementary Question:
One of the most critical issues in the UK healthcare right now is of course tackling the reluctance of some groups to take the Covid 19 vaccine, and this is a particular issue in some of our BAME communities. I was really pleased to hear at the Executive in February that the Council and local GPs are taking steps to address vaccine hesitancy through communication and through working with community groups. There was a suggestion however that we could certainly be doing more if we can get more data from the Clinical Commissioning Groups, and that caveat worried me a bit because that further and better data may or may not be forthcoming. Councils around the country are involved in some great initiatives including virtual events to dispel myths and circulating guidance in a variety of different languages. Will Wokingham Borough Council commit regardless of whether or not we get more data, to look at what the best practice is for all parts of our communities, and adopting those which are going to be of most benefit to our residents?
Supplementary Answer which was provided by Dr Milligan:
We have gone ahead with this. Katie Summers is heading up the health inequalities particularly over Covid, and having weekly meetings. As you said our unitary authority colleagues, voluntary groups and the community support workers have been absolutely fantastic about giving us that on the ground intelligence of what actually is being said, rather than what we hear in the news or what we think is being said and working with those groups. Hopefully, the intelligence is coming. The CCG, in particular Andrew Price, were using the GP data, which is 4 days out of date, but he is able to cut it and give you some intelligence down to Ward level of the uptake and things like that. We are heavily working with your community groups to have the local intelligence so if I can speak on behalf of the unitary, you are already doing it.
I think also building on your first question, it has really opened everyone’s eyes about how different groups portray the Government, the health service and their concerns about everything really. I like to think that we continue to work differently with all these groups going forward, given what we have learnt in this Covid outbreak.
Councillor Margetts:
What I would add to that Rachel to fill in a bit from WBC on top is that myself and it is either Matt or Martin, we meet the PCN’s at least once a week and have discussions basically about what they need to support vaccine delivery. I think some of them, Amit, one of the PCN leaders, has done several videos targeted at the BAME community because there is a consciousness of the need to send out the right messages. We as the Council are trying to push and support these messages as well, so there is a dialogue between us and the CCG, trying to make sure that these things get nailed.