Ashok uncle I hope don't mind me forwarding this as Obesity, Diabetes, heart disease, smoking, chewing tobacco, sexual diseases are so much more important that although imp we are so focused what colour or how do children of mixed marriages class themselves
I believe we should be focusing more  on improving our health and making others aware of this gap.
Parul
From: ashok bhatt [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 January 2009 09:01
To: Joan Jamieson; Shah Parul (5K9) Croydon PCT; Ashok Bhatt
Subject: RE: Equality and diversity -CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL
 
Dear Joan and Prul
 
Many thanks for your email. There are many reasons why have no firm definitive data on Health and Minority Ethnic Communities(MECs).
 
Recording of ethnicity faithfully - not adequate explanations go out, information is given in English only and many MEC members do not have English as their first language.
 
Inter-racial marriages result in children with dual ethnicity - what do you do then? Who decides?
 
MECs lack confidence in the NHS generally and do not trust the officials, bureaucrats readily. The burden is carried by people like me who work within MECs to 'join up' as and when where possible.
 
Community workers chosen by NHS know English only with a handful being bilingual - how can they get into the suffering societies when they do not have an appropriate langauge for communication?
 
This is a whole new story to tell.
 
It is interesting that it was after woking very hard for nearly 3-4 years constantly asking questions/creating pressure I was able to add to the push for the dialogue between the MECs and PCT in my county. We finally got the Director of Public Health come and discuss inequalities in health and Diversity!
 
I could do it as I am a health professional (International Pharma Research & Development for 40 plus years)) , know English and six other languages and a pensioner who works as a volunteer and does not cost any thing to the Statutory Agencies!
 
A lot has been said here in these few sentences and i can go on but it is only because you have been helpful to me and support me with your information in Scotland. You are a willing 'partner' than reluctant NHS personnel meeting me half way.
 
Such is the difficult and hard world of many MECs, particularly in matters related to health,  many of whom come from deprived social /financial backgrounds with little or no confidence to speak up for themselves in absence of a langauge to have much of a dialogue with NHS personnel.
 
In the meanwhile health conditions like Obesity, Diabetes, smoking , sexual diseases go marching on costing millions of pound to the NHS! Lack of preventative work does not help.
 
I have informed you on a few issues. Please feel free to comment on the content of this e-mail to me.
 
Kind regards
 
Ashok Bhatt
 
PS:
Arrival of new MECs from the e.g. Eastern Europe in large numbers, the smaller number of UK citizens who have legally been in UK for many decades (and paid taxes) get lost in numbers and the statutory agencies pay greater attention to numbers than needs and therefore the smaller MEC do not get services that the newly arrived one get although they are not even the citizens of UK!
 
 


 

From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Equality and diversity
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:28:38 +0000


Thanks for taking the time to respond – we think we are doing well to ensure equity of access but as you know without the hard data as evidence – we don’t really know for sure

 

Joan

 

From: ashok bhatt [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 January 2009 22:27
To: Joan Jamieson; A Bhatt
Subject: RE: Equality and diversity

 

Dear Miss Jamieson

This publication seems very useful for some one like me who is 'fighting health inequalities' on behalf of  the Vulnerable Groups (VGs) including Minority Ethnic Communities (MEC = BME s in official lingo) who are easy to be classed 'as hard to reach' rather  than do something for them e.g.
 
-To engage with them, empower them and encourage them to participate in relevant health initiatives
- Provide them with relevant and often vital health information in a language that they can read, understand and
  use to manage/ improve their health and have a say in the management of their health.
- Provide access to all health services, including mental health services to MECs on an equal basis.
- Provide additional services for long term conditions e.g. Obesity, Diabetes and assist with information on
  Healthy Life styles in a culturally appropriate manner with relevance to food products used by them as their
  regular staple diets to be meaningful.
- Empower them to use the available health services appropriately and in a timely fashion to avoid 'health
  distasters'
- Get the statutory Agencies to have and regularly use appropriate procedures like Ethnic monitoring including
   recording Ethnicity to perform useful statistics enable themselves to consider and determine future initiatives.
 
Hope you agree with me that these are important considerations for any health related organisations - statutory, Charity or Voluntary.
 
Your input has been useful. Thank you.
 
This e-mail is written over some time - apologies.
 
Kind regards
 
Ashok Bhatt
 
PS: I am a health professional - having done International pharmaceutical research and development work for a number of years have now retired and work as a volunteer.
 
The Indian Community in Suffolk holds a MELA,  a social event on an annual basis.  At the last such event we had 10,000 participants (all communities) in the town of Ipswich, in July 2008, the next one will be in July 2009. We had invited:
 
Suffolk PCT
Ipswich Hospital
Suffolk Mental Health Trust Partnership
 
to be proactive and encourage a dialogue between MECs, other communities and all the statutory agencies (Health, Police etc) and business organisations we had invited to attend.
 
Please feel free to ask for further information if you have any questions on what has been said in this e-mail.
 
Ashok Bhatt
 


 



From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Equality and diversity
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:06:05 +0000


Dear colleagues

 

A first  publication for your interest

Improving ethnic data collection for equality and diversity monitoring

Reducing health inequalities is a key priority for the Scottish Government. Inequalities related to deprivation are well known, but there are also important health inequalities related to ethnic group and other factors that reflect the diversity of the Scottish population. Addressing ethnic inequalities in health requires accurate and complete information to support monitoring and health improvement. This publication relates to the quality and completeness of information on ethnicity in hospital discharge data.

Publication available at : http://www.isdscotland...org/isd/5826.html

 

 

 

Joan Jamieson

Equality and Diversity information Manager

Information Services Division ( NSS Scotland)

Cirrus House

Glasgow Airport  Business Park

Paisley. PA3 2SJ

Tel : 0141 282 2250

Mobile : 07917086987

 

Web address: www.isdscotland.org/equalityanddiversity

Ethnic MonitoringToolkit:  

www.isdscotland.org/ethnicmonitoringtoolkit

 

DVD Training Resource to support patient monitoring/profiling :

http://www.isdscotland.org/equalityhappytoaskdvd

 

 

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NHS National Services Scotland Disclaimer

The information contained in this message may be confidential or legally privileged and is intended for the addressee only. If you have received this message in error or there are any problems please notify the originator immediately. The unauthorised use, disclosure, copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden.
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