Leeds PCT
Profile
The Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT), formed on 1st October 2006 out of the 5 existing PCT’s in the City. Leeds has an extremely rich and diverse population. It is the 4th largest city in Britain with a population of 723,200 (2005), and home to more than 75 different nationalities. BME communities currently make up 10.8% of the Leeds population, compared to 7.9% for England and Wales. But this is forecast to rise to 15% by 2030. The largest BME group is Pakistani with those of Indian ethnic origin coming a close second.
Our BME population faces big issues…
Deprivation: The number of people living in deprivation in Leeds is significantly above the national average; about one in five people in Leeds live in neighbourhoods that are among the 10% most deprived in the country. A significant number of our BME communities reside in these deprived neighbourhoods. For example, Leeds has 50% Asian/British Asian Pakistani residents living in the 10% most deprived areas of Leeds. This deprivation is a significant factor in relation to the health inequalities that the city faces and makes the solutions that much harder to implement.
Engagement: There have been a number of improvements recently around engagement with BME communities but there is still a lot more to be done. In addition the emergence of new communities in the city necessitates more work by the PCT in this area and more work to ensure the engagement is empowering for those individuals involved.
Community services: Leeds PCT is working hard to ensure that there are effective community based services in those communities where the need is greatest. The PCT believes that to tackle entrenched health inequalities you need to take the solution to the heart of the communities and people that the inequalities affect most.
Information: The PCT, as with other PCT’s, faces a shortage of data on the needs of the ethnic minority population due to data gaps that are slow to be filled. This means that the trust at times has real problems knowing the details of local needs, even though national statistics indicate numerous health disadvantage issues for the ethnic minority population. This is becoming increasingly true for new emerging communities and new migrant communities as even national data is sparse.
Our workforce needs…
Better representation: From the ethnic minority communities. The PCT’s workforce is broadly representative of the population of Leeds however more still needs to be done especially in the area of senior management where there is little visibility of BME staff. It has long been established that a more reflective workforce would make services more sensitive and that a more visibly diverse workforce helps the ethnic minority population develop the confidence to access our services. It will also enable the PCT to better understand community needs and further target its health inequalities work to reach those communities of most need.
More opportunities: More opportunities are needed for professional development among ethnic minority staff to help recognise different needs in our population. Better use of BME mentoring is one way the PCT wishes to address this and by strengthening the BME Network to become an important cog in the wheel of the PCT.
Local recruitment: As with many public authorities Leeds PCT recognises the benefit or employing local people both for our business but also for the wider benefit of the City.
Comprehensive equality monitoring: The PCT needs to ensure that its monitoring of staff is consistently good across all equality groups and that regular monitoring reports are produced. We also need to ensure that appropriate analysis is undertaken and that actions and put in place to bring about improvements.
Commissioning raises issues…
One size fits all vs Localism: Commissioning services at a local level to suit the individual needs of our communities means a shift in thinking for the PCT and one which presents challenges which need to be addressed
Information requirements from contractors Ensuring that our commissioned services deliver the information that we need to effectively plan and commission services for people of the BME communities continues to be a priority for the PCT and one where much work will be undertaken in the near future. In addition the PCT needs to ensure it is able to use the information from people as to what they need/want and commission on the basis of this.
Engagement of the third sector: This is vital for BME communities as well as other marginalised groups and an area which needs a concerted effort by the PCT in relation to commissioning. Improved commissioning of the third sector can plug gaps that have historically been difficult to address. Whilst the PCT has made great strides in working with the third sector it is aware that this has been patchy across the City and the challenge is to ensure that this good practice is replicated across the whole organisation and in all areas of the City.
We’re proud of…
BME Drugs service – Access for All is a fully drugs service for the BME communities that has been developed in consultation with the diverse communities of the City. The service provides care and specialist treatment that is sensitive to the specific cultural needs of the local BME population. In its short existence the service has doubled access to treatment from the BME communities across the City.
BME Community Development Workers – This is a service set up under Race for Health and is based in a community group ‘Touchstone Leeds’. It was set up in 2006 to find new ways of addressing the mental health needs of BME communities in Leeds and has had a great deal of success including a music project ‘sectioned’, setting up an Irish Women’s Group, Hamara Carers Group amongst others.
Next steps…
Capacity and approach: Leeds PCT has committed to a dedicated Equality and Diversity team to take forward this work and one of our priorities is in recruiting people to this team. We need to build capacity around the whole equalities agenda in the newly formed PCT. The PCT is keen to develop a single equalities scheme which will take the organisation into the next phase of its equality and diversity work
Knowledge and data: To improve the knowledge of health needs at a local level and more importantly to ensure that the quantity and quality of data in relation to equalities communities improves in all areas and is used to ensure improved outcomes for patients and staff?
Improvement focus: To develop a range of targets/indicators to ensure that the impact of our work on equality and diversity can be measured not in terms of process improvements but real improvements in the health of marginalised groups and the experience and diversity of our staff
Improved community engagement and partnership working: Better and more joined community engagement with the marginalised communities of the city in both the development and the assessment of health care services. This coupled with more robust partnership working to tackle the in trenched health inequalities within the City
Programme Lead:
Sharon Moore
0113 305 7442