Wolverhampton City PCT
About us
Profile
22 per cent black and ethnic minority population / The majority are Asian - Punjabi is the most popular minority language among 80 spoken in Wolverhampton / The African Caribbean community is next largest group / Health indicators suggest considerable disadvantage / Lower birth weight and higher than average infant mortality in the Asian population / Challenges include higher than average rate of type two diabetes among African Caribbeans / Higher incidence of CHD among Asians.
Our BME population faces big issues…
Inappropriate health services: The community needs to access culturally appropriate services closer to home. For example, mental health is an issue for African Caribbean community: services are locally based but not all are culturally appropriate. The African Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI) provides the only culturally appropriate service but is limited by capacity.
Changes in factors effecting health: This is not just change in health services. This community needs better access to good transport, schools and employment, all of which have an impact on health.
Aging population: There are increasing numbers of BME people over 60 with more than one life long condition, straining the capacities of families to provide care.
Growing the voluntary sector: The community needs the development of greater capacity within the voluntary sector to enable the provision of culturally appropriate services, like ACCI and the Asian Women’s Adhikar Association (AWAAZ) provides.
Our workforce needs…
To have a better understand racial equality: At the moment this concept is not thoroughly embedded in the workforce or our training programmes. It is important for staff to recognise that race equality is everyone’s responsibility.
Equality of opportunity: We provide some access to development and training but this isn’t clearly linked to career progression. We are developing our positive action initiatives in order to create better opportunities for staff and the BME community.
Use of equality impact assessment: We have revised our equality impact assessment tools and have made it part of out Protocols for developing policies and strategies. This has made the process less onerous for staff to undertake the process. We need to better involve the community in conducting these assessments.
Commissioning raises issues…
Cultural competence: Are there good enough locally based/delivered services that understand the culture within which they work and which have the capacity to deliver?
Standards and procurement: Smaller organisations are increasingly able to provide services on a smaller scale. However, being able to include them in appropriate commissioning procedures can create problems in terms of procurement and guaranteeing standards. Larger traditional organisations may find it easier to negotiate contracts thanks to their experience of delivering services.
We’re proud of…
The Health Trainer Programme: The programme will develop NVQ-style training packages for local people to help them to promote health services within their community. They will be trained to identify health needs and steer people to services.
Skill-swapping with voluntary sector: The PCT has begun developing a programme for sharing training opportunities with the voluntary sector. For example, staff in the voluntary sector will be able to shadow our finance staff to improve their skills.
Walking for health: We have an Asian group and African Caribbean voluntary group undertaking a walking for health programme, organising walks for their communities.
Healthy cooking class: The PCT funds one, run by the African Caribbean Community Initiative.
Next steps…
Expert Patient Programme: The PCT wants to increase the involvement of patients and carers in the management of their own health by using the Expert Patient Programme. We intend to pilot this in the African Caribbean community by developing the ACCI carers’ project to support carers in their own health care.
Better employment monitoring: We now have centralised recruitment and all employment opportunities are place on NHS Jobs and target local communities where appropriate. We are able to gather data from the different stages of recruitment and analyse that information for trends. We have recently conducted a staff data cleanse exercise and now updating our Electronic Staff Records.
Local involvement: We delivered a race for health conference and we are currently progressing the actions that were raised at the event. We are planning a week of diversity event with full involvement and contribution from the BME community.
Programme Lead:
Bruno Daniel, Head of Equality and Diversity,
01902 445458 or bruno.daniel@wolvespct.nhs.uk