Oldham PCT
About Us…
In the 2001 census, 13.8% Oldham’s population were identified as being from a BME community. More recent local analysis suggests that this is now 16.9% and by 2021 it is expected to increase to almost 26%.
Predictions suggest that the population size is set to rise from 217,273, as it was in the 2001 census, to 221,600 by 2021. The largest growth in population is expected in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. This demographic shift also brings a change to the age profile of Oldham. There is population growth in all age groups in the BME communities whilst there is decline in all but over 50 (female) and over 65(male) in the white population.
Our BME Population faces big issues…
Deprivation: on the overall measure of deprivation, 43% Oldham areas are in the 20% most deprived in England. 24% are in the 10% most deprived and 13% are in the 5% most deprived.
The greatest intensity of deprivation is predominantly in central parts of Oldham that also have the highest proportion of residents from BME communities. We know that there is a link between deprivation and health problems.
Health problems: people of Asian heritage are more likely to experience certain chronic diseases such as cardio-vascular disease and diabetes. We know that here are barriers to them being diagnosed, accessing treatment and achieving the best outcomes.
We know there is work we need to do across Oldham to improve the chances of staying healthy for our BME communities and to ensure that when they do experience ill health that they are able to access services that are of the highest quality and can achieve the best possible health outcomes.
Our Workforce Needs…
A representative workforce: Oldham PCT is committed to developing a diverse and representative workforce and have implemented a number of initiatives, such as a supported applications scheme for volunteers, to attract local people from BME communities to work at the PCT. We have made good progress over the past few years and have seen the percentage of BME employees rise from 4% in 2002/03 up to 10.5% in 2006/07.
Better equality monitoring: we monitor the experiences of our staff to check that people from different groups have equal access to things like training and development and don’t have disproportionate negative experiences such as bullying and harassment.
There is more work to do. Although we have succeeded in increasing recruitment we know that our success is mainly limited to lower paid jobs. As well as continuing to recruit people from BME backgrounds, we also need to ensure that they are able to progress in their careers to the most senior positions in the PCT. We have made a start on this with a number of initiatives including supporting people on the Breaking Through to Leadership programme and the Chief Executive making a commitment to mentoring at least one person from a BME background.
Commissioning issues…
We are working hard on improving our approaches to commissioning. This will help us to ensure that we commission services that are appropriate for the needs of all of our communities including those from BME backgrounds.
Sometimes our approach is to commission services specifically to address the needs of particular groups and sometimes it is to simply ensure that a service we commission is suitable to meet the needs of all members of our community. Our aim is always to ensure that all members of all of our communities are able to access the safe and effective services that they require according to their need.
We are working with the organisations that provide services to our communities to give us better information about how they are ensuring that they meet the all of their needs. We still have a long way to go on this.
What we are Proud Of…
Cottoning On: Cottoning on is an award-winning initiative that was designed to address the health inequalities in Oldham. It has very successfully improved access to locally based existing services, while at the same time developed increased opportunities for health-related training and enhancing the health knowledge of the population. The impact has been far reaching. As well as developing services, the programme has enabled some people to gain experience as volunteers and then move into paid employment with the PCT.
Staff Interpreters: A group of staff are currently being trained as community interpreters. Once trained, they will be able to provide interpreter services to people from their communities when accessing services provided by the PCT.
Smile with the Prophet: the oral health team have approached and trained the Mosques’ Imams to deliver oral health training. The sessions were commissioned because it was highlighted via dental statistics that children from the Asian communities had some of the poorest oral health in Oldham.
Next Steps
We are working on improving our knowledge of the health needs of the different communities in Oldham and developing a better understanding of the experiences they have of health services that we commission for them.
We will continue to work on our programme of equality impact assessment to make sure that we do everything possible to ensure that all Oldhamers get treated fairly.
We are continuing to focus on providing learning and development opportunities to support BME staff to progress in their careers to more senior roles in the NHS.
We are embarking on a shared leadership program which will, in the area of diabetes initially, assist with all of our plans including reducing health inequalities, improved information and leadership development.
Programme Lead
Nicola King
Deputy Director Corporate Performance