The Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) welcomes Public Health England’s report - COVID-19: Understanding the impact on BAME communities.
The report makes a number of key recommendations with the main aim to improve the lives of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background.
There are several important measures included in the report, such as improving BAME groups’ access to and experiences of NHS and Social Care services, as well as having a better representation of BAME communities among staff. In terms of COVID-19, there is a recommendation to ensure that any recovery strategies actively address inequalities to help create long term change.
Other key recommendations include:
- Having better data collection about ethnicity and religion, including having this recorded on death certificates to accurately monitor the impact on these communities.
- Supporting further research with the participation of ethnic minority communities to understand the increased risk and develop programmes to reduce it.
- Developing risk assessments for BAME workers in roles where they are exposed to a large section of the general public or those infected with the virus.
- Targeting ethnic minority groups with culturally sensitive health messages to address conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma.
Julia Scott, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists comments:
“We fully welcome this report into the impact of COVID-19 on our BAME communities. We are keen to see the key recommendations in this report implemented as soon as possible while there is political momentum there to address these inequalities, many of which have been building up over the years when it comes to access to health and social care, even before COVID-19 hit.
“We want to see further efforts to tackle racism and discrimination in the health and care system. It is shameful that in 2020 in the UK people can have their experience of the NHS and Social Care system shaped by the colour of their skin and those propping up the very system can receive abuse for the life-saving and life-changing work they do in supporting people.
“RCOT is keen to do its part to help increase diversity and tolerance within our profession and population, that is why we are holding our BAME Big Conversation which will help shine a spotlight on the challenges our members face and the part the RCOT can play in tackling them. There is a lot of work to be done in the next few weeks, months and years, to eradicate inequalities, and we are committed to playing our part.”
The full report can be found here.