Dear Reva,
Following on from others' comments, in my opinion the
key issue is to look at the advice (from the CRE and ONS
and others, who have done a lot of development work in
this area) but to apply it to local knowledge about the
particular communities resident in your area, and who
might, or might not, access your services. My
understanding is that while these more 'official'
schemes can enable comparison between different sources
as they are, it is also intended that they be adapted
for particular uses and to account for an area's
particularities. So, you should find a place for your
Eastern European clients in some form, even if it might
not be such an important category at a national level.
Another issue which you might want to think about is
including people who aren't in a 'BME' category.
Understanding why people don't use services might
require comparing those who do and don't use services
(from different ethnic groups), and also whether the
reasons for non-use vary between people from different
ethnic groups - including those from an 'ethnic
majority'. It might be that this non-use has very little
to do with anything we might consider related to
'ethnicity' at all.
In my view, you need a measure which can account for
broad ethnic groupings, from which to explore how
'ethnicity' might be operating to produce the
differences you notice.
Best wishes,
Saffron
Date sent: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:30:55 +0000
Send reply to: Reva Stewart
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From: Reva Stewart
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Subject: categorisation of BME communities
To: [log in to unmask]
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Hello
I am undertaking a project to explore the relative low
numbers of BME
elders that access our intermediate care services.
Could any of the list members give me guidance on which
communities should
be categorised as BME, as I have been informed by one
organisation that :
o White British
o White Irish
o White other
Are not included yet practitioners report that Eastern
Europeans and other
Europeans are usually categorised under White Other
rather than Other
ethnic group.
My dilemma is that in Bradford we have a small but
significant elderly
Eastern European community and feel that they should
also be included in
the project but there is no defined category (locally)
that reflects this.
I would appreciate your thoughts and comments
Reva Stewart
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