Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Institutional racism ‘exists across health service and public sector’, says NHS body

Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 April 2021
Date01 April 2021
The NHS Race and Health Observatory said it was “disappointed” by some of the conclusions of the report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, published on Wednesday.

The review, commissioned in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, claimed that for some key health metrics, including life expectancy and overall mortality, ethnic minority groups had better outcomes than the white majority population.

This evidence “clearly suggests” ethnicity is not the “major driver” of health inequalities in the UK, it said.

Instead, it suggests that deprivation, geography and differential exposure to key risk factors, including obesity, smoking and alcohol use, were indicators for worse health outcomes.

The report’s chairman also said it had found no evidence of “institutional racism”, and the report criticised the way the term has been applied, saying it should not be used as a “catch-all” phrase for any microaggression.

Observatory chairwoman Marie Gabriel said: “The Observatory believes that tackling persistent ethnic and racial disparities in health, and across society, is absolutely the right thing to do.

“However, as an evidence-led organisation, the Observatory was disappointed by several of the headline conclusions of the report, including those on the causes of ethnic inequalities.

“The Observatory is an independent...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT