Desperate times offer opportunities for the light to come streaming in.
Currently, we are seeing that light in the outpouring of support and love for health and care staff across the world during this pandemic. In the UK, a large proportion of those staff come from ethnic minorities and some are dying at a much higher rate than white staff. The same is true in the general population.
People from ethnic minority backgrounds constitute 14 per cent of the population but, according to a recent study, account for 34 per cent of critically ill Covid-19 patients and a similar percentage of all Covid-19 cases. These patterns are not unique to the UK – in Chicago, black people constitute 30 per cent of the population but account for 72 per cent of deaths from the virus.
Of 119 NHS staff known to have died in the pandemic, 64 per cent were from an ethnic minority background.
Another analysis found that, of 119 NHS staff known to have died in the pandemic, 64 per cent were from an ethnic minority background (only 20 per cent of NHS staff are from an ethnic minority background). This disproportionate toll is shocking.
On 16 April the UK government announced a formal review, by Public Health England, into these higher death rates. The King's Fund suggests that the review faces two key questions: why are people from ethnic minorities disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and what will we do about it?
Their focus in their blog is what must change in the cultures of NHS organisations.
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