Manchester PCT ... Demystifying Race Equality Impact Assessments
Race equality impact assessments sound daunting so some services bury their heads in the sand. But actually the goal and processes are simple - to spot when a service accidentally excludes a group, and ensure, when redesigning, that it does not repeat injustices or create new patterns of exclusion.
'We have assessed about 40 of our services,' says Claudette Webster, Assistant Director, Access and Inclusion at Manchester PCT. 'We offer managers a three hour training session and toolkit and give them four weeks to complete the assessment. Common themes have emerged - the need for standard referral processes that include information about access needs i.e recording a (patients)person's language spoken, and need for an interpreter; more basic cultural awareness training of frontline staff; improved publicity for services so they reach out into communities, as well as the thorny issues of needing to improve data collection and monitoring'
It is easy to exclude a group accidentally. A service sets up a spanking new treatment centre on the edge of town, offering faster treatment. But fundamental issues such as accessible transport links, provision of culturally appropriate food are factors that may contribute to some patients being able to access and use the new service.
'Ask who resides in your area,' advises Claudette Webster. 'Think about how a person would find out about the service if their first language was not English, focus on the right publicity, Are your staff culturally aware of different groups the service should reach - do they need training? Does the setting suit faith needs - can Muslim women, for example, access the service?
Manchester PCT trains other PCTs in doing race equality impact assessments. Ms Webster says: 'as well as sharing our approaches in Manchester we have learned a lot from our colleagues in other PCTs this has helped to enhance our approach to impact assessments in simple ways that make a real difference to people's lives.'