Jump to content
  • articles
    7,183
  • comments
    76
  • views
    6,406,348

Contributors to this article

About this News

Articles in the news

 

Basildon maternity unit handed 'urgent' safety deadline

An NHS hospital where a woman bled to death in childbirth has been given an "urgent" deadline to keep patients at its maternity unit safe.

A letter seen by the BBC reveals the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found unsafe staffing levels at the unit at Basildon Hospital throughout August. The CQC said the trust that runs it had until next Monday to implement appropriate measures.

The trust said it had a "robust improvement plan in place".

The seven-page document, sent by the CQC on 7 October, puts the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust on notice that it has to "implement an effective governance system", among other measures.

Consequences for missing the deadline were not stated, but the CQC said it was using its powers under the Health and Social Care Act to impose conditions on the trust's registration.

The Act does allow the CQC to temporarily close health services.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 3 November 2020

Read more

Judge says care home residents in England are legally allowed visitors

A senior judge has said friends and family can legally visit their loved ones in care homes, in an apparent challenge to recent government policy that has in effect banned routine visits in areas of high COVID-19 infection.

Mr Justice Hayden, vice-president of the court of protection which makes decisions for people who lack mental capacity, said courts are concerned about the impact on elderly people of lockdowns. He has circulated a memo that sets out his analysis that regulations do “permit contact with relatives” and friends and visits are “lawful”.

He was responding to guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) last month telling thousands of care homes in England that visiting should be stopped in areas with tier 2 and tier 3 lock down restrictions, apart from in exceptional circumstances such as the end of life.

It triggered blanket prohibitions by some councils and sparked anguish from relatives who warn a lack of contact is leading to misery and early death in some cases. Within a week, Gloucestershire county council told care homes in its area to stop visits until next spring.

With the England-wide lockdown starting on Thursday, care home providers, families and groups including Age UK and Alzheimer’s Society, have called on ministers to this time make clearer provisions for visiting. 

Hayden said exceptions in the existing regulations mean contact with residents staying in care homes is lawful for close family members and friends. He said the court of protection was concerned about “the impact the present arrangements may have on elderly people living in care homes,” citing their suffering.

Read full story

Source: The Guardian, 2 November 2020

Read more

Hospitals 70% cent more full than April

There are 70% more people in hospital now as when England was approaching its spring COVID-19 peak, and twice as many non-covid patients, according to official figures leaked to HSJ.

In some regions, the contrast is even sharper. In the North East and Yorkshire, where COVID-19 hospitalisations are still mounting rapidly, there are now twice as many patients in acute hospitals than there were in early April.

The information also shows that there are now 13% more patients than there were on 3 April in mechanical ventilation beds – which are reserved for the most seriously ill patients. These include more than double the number of non-covid patients than there were in the spring.

The information — shared with HSJ and The Independent by NHS sources — also reveals that 1 in 10 hospital beds are now occupied by confirmed covid patients – up from about 6% two weeks ago.

Read full story

Source: HSJ, 3 November 2020

Read more
 

CQC orders staffing and safety improvements at trust scrutinised over deaths

A mental health trust has been told to make ‘urgent improvements’ by regulators after a fourth inpatient death occurred with similar themes to three other patients dying within 12 months.

The warning, issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to Devon Partnership Trust, was made after an unannounced inspection at the trust’s Langdon Hospital – following the death of a patient who died by suspected suicide in July.

Last week HSJ revealed how the death was the fourth inpatient death within the last 12 months at the trust, with each incident having recurring themes.

The latest death happened at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, on one of the trust’s medium secure wards (Ashcombe), with the patient using a ligature point. It was a similar incident to another serious incident in May on a different ward (Holcombe) at the hospital, and it prompted the inspection from the CQC in mid-August.

While the death remains under investigation by the trust, early details shared with the CQC reveal that the incident happened in an area of the ward which had been changed to an “isolation area” under the trust’s COVID-19 infection prevention strategy. However, this meant there were not “good lines of sight” for staff monitoring patients – according to the CQC’s inspection report.

There were also “low staffing levels on the wards”, according to staff which spoke to the CQC. The staff also told inspectors they were “stressed, exhausted and burnt out following the demands of the pandemic”.

According to the CQC, some staff had concerns about areas on the ward where patients had “unrestricted access to items including sports equipment that could be used as weapons for self-harm”.

Although the ward’s ligature assessment claimed those areas were always supervised by staff, this was disputed by the staff themselves, the report said.

Read full story

Source: HSJ, 3 November 2020

Read more

NHS bosses accused of ‘putting politics before patient safety’

An NHS hospital at the epicentre of the coronavirus second wave is facing the threat of action by the care watchdog as it struggles to keep patients safe, The Independent has learned.

Senior NHS bosses in the northwest region have been accused of putting politics ahead of patient safety and not doing enough to help the hospital to cope with the surge in Covid patients in recent weeks.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust on Friday that it could face action after an inspection carried out last week in response to fears raised with the regulator. 

In a message to his colleagues on Friday, Liverpool University Hospitals (LUH) Trust medical director Tristan Cope warned the hospital had been overwhelmed by coronavirus and standards of care could no longer be maintained. He criticised NHS England and said the trust had been “abandoned” as coronavirus cases surged.

He confirmed the CQC’s intention to take action against the trust but said the regulator had failed to appreciate the pressure staff in the hospital were under.

Dr Cope, a consultant in anaesthesia and critical care, said: “LUH is now essentially overwhelmed by the demand. We cannot maintain patient flow and usual standards of care. We have put forward a proposal to further reduce elective [planned] activity, but maintaining capacity for the most urgent cases that would suffer from a two-four week delay."

“It is a very sound plan that our divisional teams have worked up. However, NHS England are prevaricating and delaying with the usual request for more detail, more data, etc. It is clear to me that the politics is outweighing the patient safety issues of the acute crisis."

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 3 November 2020

Read more
 

North West Ambulance Service declares 'major incident' over high level of calls

North West Ambulance Service has declared a “major incident” over a high number of calls. 

People were warned they could be asked to make their own way to hospital if their call was not life-threatening, while some patients faced delays. There were no signs the surge in demand was linked to coronavirus, a spokesperson for the service said. 

“North West Ambulance Service has declared a major incident due to the high level of activity in the North West region, in particular the Greater Manchester area,” the service said on Monday evening.

“If your call is not life-threatening, you may be asked if you can seek an alternative source of care or make your way to hospital by alternate means," the statement on Facebook said.

The Independent understands at one point hundreds of calls were live - which triggered the major incident alert.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 3 November 2020

 

Read more
 

COVID-19: Liverpool to pilot city-wide coronavirus testing

People in Liverpool will be offered regular COVID-19 tests under the first trial of whole city testing in England.

Everyone living or working in the city will be offered tests, whether or not they have symptoms, with follow-up tests every two weeks or so. Some will get new tests giving results within an hour which, if successful, could be rolled out to "millions" by Christmas, the government says.

Liverpool has one of the highest rates of coronavirus deaths in England. The latest figures show the city recorded 1,754 cases in the week up to 30 October. The average area in England had 153.

The pilot aims to limit spread of the virus by identifying as many infected people as possible, and taking action to break chains of transmission.

It is thought around four-fifths of people who are infected with coronavirus show no symptoms.

Read full story

Source: BBC News, 3 November 2020

Read more
 

Trust ‘could have avoided four never events’ if it had acted on alert

A trust which had four ‘never events’ where patients were connected to air rather than an oxygen supply could have avoided them if it had been more proactive when a national patient safety alert was sent out several years earlier, a report has found.

In one case, a baby being investigated for sepsis had oxygen saturation levels of just 75% before the mistake was realised. In another, a woman with COPD and pneumonia had oxygen saturation at 80% when she was connected to the air outlet.

Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust asked the Royal College of Physicians to carry out an invited review after the four never events at Calderdale Royal Hospital in 2018 and 2019. The earliest incident happened in February 2018 but was not identified until a retrospective audit nearly a year later.

The RCP’s report said that, had this been identified earlier, “steps could have been put in place to avoid such incidents from subsequently occurring”.

But it added: “All four never events could have been avoided if the trust had responded more proactively to the previous NHS Improvement patient safety alert about the dangers of erroneously connecting patients to air instead of oxygen and had subsequently restricted access to air outlets.”

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 2 November 2020

Read more

Hospitals may be forced to move Covid patients elsewhere

Several hospitals in the north of England are already at full capacity and may have to start moving patients to other regions, doctors have warned.

Consultants fear that if Covid infection rates do not begin to fall significantly the NHS will be overwhelmed in less than a month from now.

Members of the British Medical Association have reported that Intensive Care Units (ICU) in a number of regions, including Manchester, Liverpool and Hull, are close to capacity as the number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 continues to grow.

Dr Vishal Sharma, chairman of the BMA’s consultants committee, told The Telegraph: “Capacity in the north of England is at the limits and in some places above the limit. Our next concern is ICU capacity, which is always tight at this time of year, even without Covid.”

Dr Sharma said some general ward beds could be adapted to provide intensive breathing support for Covid patients, and the re-opening of Manchester’s Nightingale Hospital may also take the pressure off ICU departments.

But more radical steps may have to be taken if numbers of hospitalised patients continue to rise.

“We may have to move patients around the country to create extra capacity, but if the whole country starts to struggle things will get very difficult."

Read full story

Source: The Telegraph, 

Read more

Second lockdown will take heavy toll on mental health, charities warn

A month-long national lockdown in winter will take a heavy toll on people's mental health, charities fear.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of mental health charity Mind, says it could be "the greatest test of our mental health this year”, not just for the public but for healthcare staff who are "working tirelessly, but may be struggling with their mental health too”.

Both Mind and Carers UK say the Government has to learn from mistakes in the first wave and make sure people can get help early on.

Mind has also urged the Government to support those who feel alone through a second lockdown in England, with Mr Farmer saying there is an “urgent need” for a winter mental health support package including in-person and online services.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 1 November 2020

Read more
 

Watchdog investigating national rise in stillbirths

A national review has been launched by regulators because of an increased number of stillbirths during the first wave of covid, HSJ can reveal.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) is investigating 40 intrapartum stillbirths which took place between April and June this year, when the country experienced the first wave of COVID-19. During the same three months in the previous year, 24 stillbirths were reported to HSIB.

The HSIB has told HSJ it has now launched a thematic review into the stillbirths, which will investigate stillbirths in all settings across England during that time period.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which has also launched a national review into perinatal outcomes during the pandemic, estimates that 86 per cent of maternity units reported a reduction in emergency antenatal presentations in April, “suggesting women may have delayed seeking care”.

HSIB is aiming to complete the thematic review early next year. It said the stillbirths being investigated are not concentrated on any geographical area or trust.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 2 November 2020

Read more
 

UCL researchers publish ‘Find, Test, Track, Isolate and Support’ Covid dashboard

Researchers at UCL-led collaboration i-sense, have published a dashboard to collate data on five stages, Find, Test, Track, Isolate and Support, with an aim to provide a complete picture of the pandemic.

The i-sense COVID Response Evaluation Dashboard (COVID RED) collates and presents data from the Office of National Statistics, Public Health England, and the NHS under five categories; Find, Test, Track, Isolate and Support for those asked to Isolate (FTTIS). It presents indicators of performance under each of these headings, and identifies areas where more data is needed.

Co-developer Professor Christina Pagel, UCL Mathematics & Physical Sciences, said: “Increasing volumes of data are being shown in the media and in government press conferences as a basis for local tightening of restrictions.”

“However, these data are often from disparate sources, and are not linked together to give a more complete picture of how we are doing. This was the motivation behind our dashboard development. We wish to contribute to the public understanding of COVID-19’s spread, and support policymakers in identifying current areas of the Find, Test, Trace, Isolate and Support structure requiring strengthening.”

Read full article

Source: Health Tech Newspaper, 30 October 2020

To access the dashboard, click here

Read more

Tens of thousands of NHS staff off sick because of COVID-19, data reveals

Almost half of all staff absence linked to coronavirus in parts of northern England

Tens of thousands of NHS staff are off sick or self-isolating because of coronavirus, according to data shared with The Independent as the second wave grows.

In some parts of northern England, more than 40% – in some cases almost 50% – of all staff absences are linked to COVID-19, heaping pressure on already stretched hospitals trying to cope with a surge in virus patients. The problem has sparked more calls for wider testing of NHS staff from hospital leaders and nursing unions who warned safety was being put at risk because of short staffing on wards.

Across England, more than 76,200 NHS staff were absent from work on Friday – equivalent to more than 6% of the total workforce. This included 25,293 nursing staff and 3,575 doctors.

Read full article

Source: The Independent, 1 November 2020

Read more
 

Using Twitter to assess patient takes on patient experience

A qualitative study of Twitter hashtags revealed power hierarchies can damage the patient experience and clinician relationship.

In an analysis of a popular Twitter hashtag, researchers found that patients largely take umbrage when they feel their doctor does not believe their ailment or knowledge about their healthcare, and when they perceive a power hierarchy between themselves and their clinician.

Although not as many patients are using Twitter to get peer feedback on certain providers (the Binary Fountain poll showed only 21% of patients do this), the social media website still holds a lot of power, researchers from the University of California system explained. Twitter is a large platform that hosts social discourse. Healthcare professionals use Twitter to disseminate public health and patient education messages and to network, while 61% of patients use Twitter to learn more about their health, as well.

Read full article

Source: Patient Engagement HIT, 29 October 2020

Read more

COVID-19: 338 patients with the virus were discharged from Scottish hospitals to care homes

A total of 338 patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were discharged from Scottish hospitals into care homes in the three months from March this year, says a report from Public Health Scotland.

The discharges were necessary to free up space in hospitals for COVID-19 patients but some care home owners have claimed that it introduced the virus into their premises, causing almost 2000 deaths across Scotland.2

Public Health Scotland says that most of the 3599 discharges that took place in the busiest month of March were among people who had never been tested. Of the 650 who were tested, 78 were positive, but the discharges still went ahead.

Scotland has been found to have the highest rate of COVID-19 related deaths in care homes of any part of the UK.

Read full story

Source: BMJ, 29 October 2020

Read more
 

Report into Covid-related whistleblowing calls to the Protect advice Line

What does whistleblowing in a pandemic look like? Do employers take concerns more seriously – as we would all hope? Does the victimisation of whistleblowers still happen? Does a pandemic compel more people to speak up? We wanted to know, so Protect analysed the data from all the Covid-19 related calls to theirr Advice Line. They found:

* 41% of whistleblowers had Covid-19 concerns ignored by employers
* 20% of whistleblowers were dismissed
* Managers more likely to be dismissed (32% ) than non-managers (21%)

 

They found that too many whistleblowers feel ignored and isolated once they raise their concerns and that these failing are a systematic problem.

Protect, which runs an Advice Line for whistleblowers, and supports more than 3,000 whistleblowers each year, has been inundated with Covid-19 whistleblowing concerns, many of an extremely serious nature. Its report, The Best Warning System: Whistleblowing During Covid-19 examines over 600 Covid-19 calls to its Advice Line between March and September. The majority of cases were over furlough fraud and risk to public safety, such as a lack of social distancing and PPE in the workplace.

 

Read more

NHS staff and families accounted for one in six Covid hospital cases, study reveals

NHS staff and their families accounted for one in six patients in hospital with Covid, due in part to inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), new research suggests.

A study of hospitals from March to June revealed that healthcare workers in patient-facing roles were around three times more likely to be hospitalised with the virus than the general population.

Writing in the BMJ, the study's authors called for an urgent focus on how COVID-19 spreads around hospitals to prevent a similar toll in future waves of the pandemic.

They also call for hospitals to consider re-deploying staff with vulnerable family members away from high-risk zones.

Read full story

Source: The Telegraph, 29 October 2020

Read more

Delays in discharging patients adds pressure on hospitals amid coronavirus second wave

Delays in discharging patients from hospitals is making pressure on the NHS from the second wave of coronavirus worse, hospital chiefs have warned.

Some hospitals are already reporting almost all of their beds are full with patients as the number of coronavirus cases continues to surge with more patients needing hospital care every day.

Doctors have told The Independent the lack of discharges means fewer beds are free and some hospitals are seeing long waits in A&E for beds to become available.

NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson said: “Some of our chief executives are saying they are seeing bed occupancy levels of 92, 93, 94 per cent at the end of October when they would normally expect these to be 86, 87, 88 per cent. “Given where we are in terms of the winter cycle, and the fact we are not really at the beginning of winter yet, that is a worry."

“There are much higher bed occupancy levels now than you would normally expect to see at this time of the year.”

Without enough spare beds, hospitals will not be able to go ahead with planned surgeries and will have to make patients wait longer for a bed in accident and emergency departments.

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 30 October 2020

Read more
 

Doctors accuse trust of caving to political pressure to reopen ‘unsafe’ A&E

Senior clinicians say their trust board has caved into political pressure by making an ‘unsafe’ decision to re-open a small emergency department — having previously suggested this would not happen if there was a second wave of coronavirus.

In a letter to management at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, seen by HSJ, a group of 17 emergency medicine consultants have raised serious concerns over the planned re-opening of the accident and emergency department at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital next week.

The unit, which has long suffered from staffing shortages and temporary closures, was again closed on a temporary basis at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. When covid subsided in the summer, plans were put forward to reopen it in the autumn.

However, when announcing this, chief executive Karen Partington said: “It is really important that everybody recognises that if covid-19 cases begin to rise significantly, or other safety concerns are identified, we will need to revisit the situation.”

The letter from the clinicians, addressed to trust clinical director Graham Ellis, said: “We consider that the trust has been subjected to an undercurrent of external pressure which has resulted in an unsafe decision being taken to re-open the ED prematurely…"

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 30 October 2020

Read more

Hundreds of GPs a month seek mental health support as COVID-19 pressure bites

More than 200 GPs a month are seeking mental health support as COVID-19 drives up pressure on the NHS - and demand for help is rising fastest among doctors in primary care, figures from a confidential support service suggest.

NHS Practitioner Health medical director and former RCGP chair Professor Dame Clare Gerada warns that the pandemic 'must surely be contributing to the increase in numbers of doctors presenting for help compared to pre-pandemic levels'.

Before the pandemic, around 60 doctors per week were coming forward for support from NHS Practitioner Health, a free, confidential NHS service for doctors and dentists in England with mental illness and addiction problems.

After an initial dip during the first wave of the pandemic, numbers of doctors coming forward each week spiked to 90 per week by June and now 'regularly over 100' per week, Professor Gerada said.

Junior doctors and international medical graduates now make up 25% of referrals to the service, and younger women have been particularly affected.

Data from NHS Practitioner Health show that up to 69% of all referrals to the service are for women, and nearly a third of all referrals it receives are for female doctors aged 30-39 - for issues 'ranging from anxiety, depression, burnout, PTSD and suicidal thoughts'.

Read full story

Source: GP Online, 28 October 2020

Read more
 

Poorer mothers three times ‘more likely to have stillborn children’

Poorer mothers are three times more likely to have stillborn children than those from more affluent backgrounds, according to a new study.

The wide-ranging research, conducted by pregnancy charity Tommy’s, also found that high levels of stress doubled the likelihood of stillbirth, irrespective of other social factors and pregnancy complications. Unemployed mothers were almost three times more at risk.

The government has been urged to take immediate action to address the social determinants of health and halt the rise in pregnant women who face the stress of financial insecurity.

Researchers said getting more antenatal care can stop women from having a stillbirth — with mothers who went to more appointments than national rules stipulate having a 72% lower risk.

Ros Bragg, director of Maternity Action said, “If the government is serious about combatting stillbirths, it must address the social determinants of health as well as clinical care. Women need safe, secure employment during their pregnancy and the certainty of a decent income if they find themselves out of work. It is not right that increasing numbers of pregnant women are dealing with the stress of financial insecurity, putting them at increased risk of serious health problems, including stillbirth.”

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 29 October 2020

Read more
 

Coronavirus delays putting patients’ lives at risk, warn ambulance chiefs

Ambulance chiefs have warned coronavirus precautions in hospital emergency departments are putting patients’ lives at risk because of long delays before patients are being treated.

West Midlands Ambulance Service has written a formal warning to three hospitals in the region over the delays to handing over patients from ambulance to hospital staff.

In one case, a patient was left waiting with ambulance crews for up to three and a half hours.

According to the letter, obtained by the Health Service Journal, the delays are being caused because of tougher infection control measures with ambulance bosses warning the situation is “dangerous”.

Director of nursing Mark Docherty said the delays meant ambulances could not be sent to “life threatening emergencies”, and warned: “Lives will be put at risk and patients will come to harm as a result”.

He added: “I alerted you to a serious concern about patients being kept on ambulances outside your hospital. Of great concern is the fact that a hospital risk assessment identifies this process as a mitigation to reduce risk in your hospital…"

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 29 October 2020

Read more
 

Private children’s unit shut down after CQC safety concerns

A privately run child and adolescent mental health unit has been closed permanently, with its residents moved elsewhere, after concerns were raised about their safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had taken “urgent action to ensure the provider makes immediate and significant improvements” at the Cygnet Hospital in Godden Green, outside Sevenoaks in Kent, after a series of unannounced inspections last month and this month.

The hospital had a CAMHs unit with up to 23 beds – details of which have been removed from the company’s website. However, only a small number of beds were occupied and these patients were either discharged or transferred to other hospitals before the unit closed on Monday.

Last year Cygnet Health Care also launched a 12 bed female psychiatric intensive care unit on the site. Some of these beds have been commissioned by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust since early this year, as there are no NHS female PICU sites in the county. This unit remains open, although the CQC said the concerns raised with it related to the safety of both PICU and CAMHs patients.

Karen Bennett-Wilson, the CQC’s head of hospital inspection and lead for mental health in the south, said: “CQC has also worked closely with NHSE/I, Cygnet Healthcare and other local partners who have taken the decision to close the CAMHS unit and move the young people in the service to other care appropriate to their needs."

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 20 October 2020

Read more

Hospital Covid ‘hotspots’ mapped out in a new HSIB report

Hospital hotspots for COVID-19 have been highlighted in a new report by safety investigators.

The report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) makes a series of observations to help the health service reduce the spread of coronavirus in healthcare settings. Hospital hotspots for COVID-19 included the central nurses’ stations and areas where computers and medical notes were shared, the HSIB found.

The investigation was initiated after a Sage report in May which found that 20% of hospital patients were reporting symptoms of Covid-19 seven days following admission – suggesting that their infection may have been acquired in hospital. In response to the report, NHS England and NHS Improvement confirmed they would publish nosocomial – another term for hospital acquired infections – transmission rates from trusts, the HSIB said.

Read full story

Source: Express and Star, 28 October 2020

 

Read more
 

Structural racism led to worse Covid impact on BAME groups

Minority ethnic people in UK were ‘overexposed, under protected, stigmatised and overlooked’, new review finds.

Structural racism led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, a review by Doreen Lawrence has concluded.

The report, commissioned by Labour, contradicts the government’s adviser on ethnicity, Dr Raghib Ali, who last week dismissed claims that inequalities within government, health, employment and the education system help to explain why COVID-19 killed disproportionately more people from minority ethnic communities.

Lady Lawrence’s review found BAME people are over-represented in public-facing industries where they cannot work from home, are more likely to live in overcrowded housing and have been put at risk by the government’s alleged failure to facilitate Covid-secure workplaces.

She demanded that the government set out an urgent winter plan to tackle the disproportionate impact of Covid on BAME people and ensure comprehensive ethnicity data is collected across the NHS and social care. The report, entitled An Avoidable Crisis, also criticises politicians for demonising minorities, such as when Donald Trump used the phrase “the Chinese virus”.

The report, which is based on submissions and conversations over Zoom featuring “heart-wrenching stories” as well as quantitative data, issued the following 20 recommendations:

  1. Set out an urgent plan for tackling the disproportionate impact of Covid on ethnic minorities
  2. Implement a national strategy to tackle health inequalities
  3. Suspend ‘no recourse to public funds’ during Covid
  4. Conduct a review of the impact of NRPF on public health and health inequalities
  5. Ensure Covid-19 cases from the workplace are properly recorded
  6. Strengthen Covid-19 risk assessments
  7. Improve access to PPE in all high-risk workplaces
  8. Give targeted support to people who are struggling to self-isolate
  9. Ensure protection and an end to discrimination for renters
  10. Raise the local housing allowance and address the root causes of homelessness
  11. Urgently conduct equality impact assessments on the government’s Covid support schemes
  12. Plan to prevent the stigmatisation of communities during Covid-19
  13. Urgently legislate to tackle online harms
  14. Collect and publish better ethnicity data
  15. Implement a race equality strategy
  16. Ensure all policies and programmes help tackle structural inequality
  17. Introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting
  18. End the ‘hostile environment’
  19. Reform the curriculum
  20. Take action to close the attainment gap

Read full story 

Source: The Guardian, 28 October 2020

Read more
×
×
  • Create New...