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Jewish doctors urge action to protect BAME healthcare workers
Immunologist David Katz says Public Health England failing to implement recommendations in its own report on the issue
July 12, 2020 09:28
Immunologist David Katz says Public Health England failing to implement recommendations in its own report on the issue
July 12, 2020 09:28Thirty nine doctors, including the executive chairman of the Jewish Medical Association (JMA), have called on the government to implement a set of proposals to safeguard Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) healthcare workers, who have experienced a disproportionately high number of fatalities due to coronavirus.
Being religious has been found to make you more likely to die of coronavirus – particularly those of Muslim and Jewish faith.
According to Professor David Katz, a leading immunologist and the head of the JMA, Public Health England (PHE) has been unable to indicate clearly how it intended to implement recommendations in its report on the issue published two weeks ago.
In the meantime, he said, “people are dying now”, adding he felt he had to intervene “as part of [Jews’] ethical role in society”.
The PHE report, published in June, found that BAME people were more likely to contract and die from coronavirus, as they were more likely to live in overcrowded housing, work in roles with increased exposure to Covid-19 and use public transport. They were also less likely to seek care and speak up when concerned about PPE or testing.
It recommended, among other things, including ethnicity in NHS data collection and employing “culturally competent” risk assessments.
The group of doctors emphasised the need for “urgent implementation” of the recommendations in a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch on 21 June, but had yet to receive a response.
Professor Katz reported that in a virtual meeting last Monday, PHE representatives had been unable to explain how they intended to do so.
A PHE spokesperson said the report's recommendations had been shared with the Equalities Minister and would "inform the programme of activity she is taking forward".
A spokesperson for the Government Equalities Office said the June report had provided “valuable insight” and a “subsequent stakeholder report will help inform the next stages of our work on this vital issue.”
The Department for Health was also contacted for comment.
It is understood that the NHS has created a new centre to investigate the impact of race on health, and offer analysis and policy recommendations. NHS England has also launched a bereavement counselling service for Filipino staff, who have been significantly over-represented in Covid-19 mortality figures. Race would now be included as a risk factor in risk assessments.
Prof Katz said he and others thought immediate action was needed, rather than further in-depth research into the issue.
He added that “race is only one protected characteristic, and there is intersectionality between race and faith – and there can be discrimination on both grounds”.
Although Jews are treated as a “protected characteristic group” rather than a minority, Prof Katz said Jews in the healthcare profession had experienced discrimination because of their faith, something which he claimed was often excluded from reports on discrimination in healthcare.
Prof Katz called a survey of NHS staff in 2019 “extraordinary” because it did include data on respondents who had experienced religious discrimination. 32.1 per cent of Jewish NHS workers told the survey they had experienced discrimination on the basis of religion.
A recent ONS study found those who identified as Muslim or Jewish were at greater risk of dying as a result of Covid-19. A recent BMJ article argued that belonging to an ethnic minority and being religious made you more likely to die due to the virus. Discrimination against these groups was seen as a contributing factor towards poor health.
The PHE report also recommended targeting non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, which can act as comorbidities.
Prof Katz also told the JC that, while non-communicable diseases such as diabetes were a “priority” as they were comorbidities, “the actual priority in July 2020 is not only non-communicable diseases; it’s communicable diseases.”
He worried that, as a result of efforts being diverted to fighting coronavirus, “immunisation rates are going to fall and children in [deprived] communities are going to be the ones that are going to suffer”.
He pointed to government cuts to health visitors in the East End of London, specifically the impoverished Jewish and Muslim communities there, which then saw an increase in measles cases.
