Delivering effective NHS services to our multiethnic population: collection and application of ethnic monitoring within primary care

Government health policy has emphasised the importance of understanding and tackling ethnic disparities in health and healthcare for at least four decades. Yorkshire & the Humber includes areas with large, well-established minority ethnic populations. In addition, most cities in the region, including those that have in the past been dominated by the White British majority, are now experiencing rapid migration. Persistent patterns of health disadvantage among established minority ethnic communities are now compounded by the differing health needs of new migrant populations. NHS organisations in Yorkshire & the Humber have begun to respond more systematically to the needs of minority ethnic groups. However, there is still progress to be made on establishing basic requirements for effective commissioning, including effective ethnic monitoring systems that provide high quality intelligence to commissioners, service managers and health professionals. While there are examples of innovation and good practice, there is significant variation across the region and a lack of sharing and learning between organisations. Here we report on a workshop that was convened by the Strategic Health Authority in June 2009 as a first step towards addressing this recognised area of need. The Workshop Chair was John Chuter, Chair of NHS Bradford & Airedale. The aims of the workshop were to: • Highlight the policy context and imperatives for ethnic monitoring. • Raise awareness of the current position with regard to ethnic monitoring and use of data in Yorkshire & the Humber. • Share emerging good practice. • Identify ways to move forward to improved ethnic monitoring across the region

Nursing research for a multi-ethnic society

Summary points • Conducting research that appropriately and sensitively pays attention to ethnicity presents an important challenge to nursing researchers and demands particular competencies. • Nursing research must recognise the multifaceted nature of ethnicity and the varied ways in which health-related experiences and outcomes may be associated with ethnicity. • Ethnic identities are complex and fluid so that using fixed ethnic categories in research requires careful consideration. • Describing and explaining differences between ethnic 'groups' demands careful attention to sampling, data generation and analysis so that partial or misleading interpretations are avoided. • Researchers should be alert to the potential for research on minority ethnic groups to do more harm than good and should seek to ensure that their research focus and approach is informed by the experiences and priorities of these groups

Using participatory, observational and ‘Rapid Appraisal’ methods: researching health and illness

This chapter reports on the experiences and lessons learned through the use of participatory, locality-based data generation methods to research the intersections between long-term illhealth and poverty among four different ethnic 'communities'

Reducing Health Inequalities Implementation Theme. Briefing Paper 2: How to incorporate attention to inequality in CLAHRC (SY) activity.

In Briefing Paper 1 we set out the rationale for having an "Inequalities in health" theme as part of the CLAHRC (SY) activity. In this second briefing paper we show how research conducted under the aegis of CLAHRC (SY) can address issues of health inequality

Ill-health in the family: the intersection of employment and caring across households from four ethnic groups

The employment rates of both disabled people and those from minority ethnic groups are subject to substantial UK policy attention. In this paper we set out to enhance understanding of the relationship with the labour market for those living with long-term illness and their family members. We explore the role of family caring responsibilities and ethnicity in shaping patterns of employment participation. We do this by investigating the experiences of those from four different ethnic groups and using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach

'I feel my Dad every moment!': memory, emotion and embodiment in British South Asian fathering practices

This chapter examines the fathering narratives of British South Asian men with children aged three to eight years, in the context of their complex migration histories and experiences of socioeconomic marginalisation in contemporary Britain. It investigates men’s narratives about their memories of their own fathers and their legacy for own values and practices as fathers. The findings show that the fathering practices are shaped not just by the intergenerational replication of values and practices but also by the deep emotional legacy that children inherit from their fathers. Further, fathering is embedded in wider socioeconomic and racial hierarchies, which constrain men’s ability to father in new ways. Despite their efforts, many fathers consciously or unconsciously end up replicating their fathers’ parenting practices such as working long hours and absence from the day-to-day lives of their children