NHS and social care organisations have been issued with a new practical guide to help to improve ethnic monitoring within their services and workforce. The new guide has been drawn up by the Department of Health, the Health and Social Care Information Centre and NHS employers to guide and improve health services for NHS patients and current working practices for staff.
Ethnic monitoring guidance issued
Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: “I fully expect NHS and social services leaders to work with me in making sustained improvements to services and workforce practices for all communities based on sound and robust ethnic group data. If these leaders show commitment and energy, then ethnic monitoring will be rightly seen as a core business activity and a foundation for reviewing and addressing inequalities and discrimination.”
The new guide highlights the importance of using consistent and standard means of collecting ethnic group and related data from patients, service users and staff, and the key principle of self-classification. It also incorporates 17 good practice examples from various NHS bodies and councils which will help to disseminate good work on ethnic monitoring across health and social care and encourage shared learning.
