The most extensive study to be carried out in England looking at ethnic minority health has revealed huge inequalities.
Carried out by the University of Manchester, the study looked at health inequalities in those over the age of 55 finding that they were more likely to report poor experiences at their GP surgery. The authors say this suggests that unfairness within NHS services may be exacerbating health inequalities for some ethnic minority groups.
The study, which used the England-wide GP Patient Survey to analyse responses from almost 1.4 million adults aged over 55 surveyed between 2015 and 2017, has been published in Lancet Public Health. The sample included over 150,000 people who self-identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group – the largest ever sample.
Healthcare disparities in the UK
The study found that the average health of 60-year-olds belonging to Gypsy or Irish Traveller, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Arab groups was like that of an 80-year-old, and that people aged 55 and over from almost all ethnic groups were more likely to report insufficient support from local services to manage their health conditions and to say they lacked self-confidence in managing their health.
Other key findings from the study include: inequalities tended to be wider for older women; older people from ethnic minority groups were more likely to report suffering from some common long-term conditions like diabetes and from having two or more conditions; and older Bangladeshi women were around three times more likely to report poor experiences compared to older White British women.
Lead author Dr Ruth Watkinson from The University of Manchester said: “We found that people from some ethnic minority groups – particularly Asian groups – were more likely to report poor experiences at their GP surgery.
“This suggests the NHS as an institution is failing people from some ethnic groups. Policy action is needed to transform healthcare and wider support services to make sure they meet the needs of all individuals in England’s multi-ethnic population fairly.
“But policy makers also need to address the structural racism that makes it harder for people belonging to ethnic minority groups to access socioeconomic opportunities because poverty is a major cause of poor health.”
Co-author Dr Alex Turner, also from The University of Manchester added: “Researchers haven’t been able to research the health outcomes of people over 55 in ethnic minority groups, because they aren’t included in sufficient numbers in most datasets. And much official data doesn’t distinguish between groups, which can mask inequalities.
“This study allowed us analyse results for all 18 of the UK census ethnic groups separately, allowing us to see differences between them. However more research is needed to better understand exactly what drives these health inequalities. There needs to be more data collection with much better inclusion of people from ethnic minority groups in longitudinal studies.”
