South Birmingham PCT
Profile
The second most diverse city in the UK / Twice the national average of working-age women who have never worked / One in five people live with a long-term illness / In some wards, the majority of residents are Pakistani / There are some affluent wards and also some wards with high levels of deprivation.
Our BME population faces big issues…
Marginalisation: In some parts of Birmingham, BME populations are concentrated in particular wards, so it is easier to target services at them. In south Birmingham they are sometimes more scattered, with, for example, small, Somali-, Chinese-, and Bengali-speaking communities that are isolated. So it is more difficult to make sure their needs are addressed.
Disease risk: South Asian populations and African-Caribbeans face higher incidence of, for example, diabetes and coronary heart disease.
Lack of opportunity at senior levels: It is difficult for BMEs to advance to the top jobs within the NHS, even if they have a long history of working for the health service. This poses a challenge to convince BME communities that the NHS is a good place to work.
Our workforce needs…
Improved BME recruitment: In particular, the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities are poorly represented. Of 895 administrative and clerical staff, 19 are Pakistani/Bangladeshi compared to 709 in the category of white British/mixed British. There is a perception within BME communities that the NHS is a white middle class organisation. People from disadvantaged communities with few formal qualifications find it hard to get good NHS jobs.
Young people: Younger people are attracted to IT or private sector jobs and the NHS is perceived as a poor payer. The jobs open to BME staff appear to be more menial, with the clinical and managerial jobs apparently occupied by white people – not appealing to young BME people.
BME Leadership: The PCT lacks a visible black leadership. The PCT is developing ways to develop its own BME leaders.
Commissioning raises issues…
Reaching smaller BME communities: It is a challenge to identify their needs and create services that are culturally sensitive to them and which do not ignore them. Data collection Data on ethnicity remains inadequate, making it difficult to measure the outcome of race equality interventions and identify real levels of inequity.
Practice-based commissioning: Many GPs, particularly in the more deprived wards, with the greatest concentrations of ethnic minorities, are single-handed. This makes it more difficult to create sophisticated commissioning for a patient-led NHS.
We’re proud of…
Work experience programme: We run a work experience programme for teenagers, more than 70 per cent of them from BME backgrounds. Participants spend two weeks in the Trust on a semi-structured programme including three days on a placement of their choice, in, say, physiotherapy, the elderly wards and children’s services. Two other days are spent elsewhere, for example in communications or finance. They also spend five days on issues such as diversity training, sexual health training, health and safety risk management. Some 50 school children have passed through the programme which will hopefully encourage BME recruitment.
The Community Family Worker Programme: It targets deprived wards to offer supported training including childcare) to predominantly unemployed people. More than 180 participants have been trained as Community Family Workers. The majority are now working for the first time and coming off benefits. Their role is to help families that are disengaged from the NHS and to help make sure that services are reaching those in need.
Next steps…
More funding: We want core funding for community family workers/ para professionals – like the 180 that have been trained – to become part of district nursing teams and health visiting teams. This would involve a shift away from services being delivered solely by academically trained professional staff. Experience of the community, as well as professional qualification, should be given validity.
Programme lead:
Billy Foreman, Associate Director - Health and Social Policy
07809 834 737 or billy.foreman@SouthBirminghamPCT.nhs.uk