Doctors make recommendations to health secretary
Dr Chaand Nagpaul: Obligation for the NHS to risk assess, it’s not all about BAME workers not being able to work in the frontline, there are tools out there and this needs adjustments. The second is data. We don’t have enough. More data and more protection.
Sir Nilesh Samani: Risk assessment, especially in terms of ethnicity and also for the communities at large is critical. How do you get that message out?
Prof Sabu: A disease surveillance system focusing on BAME people. And beyond Covid, engage with community healthcare workers, the community healthcare workers can be deployed, trace and track.
Poppy Jaman: We know from disasters around the world, from the spike of any crisis, the population’s mental health will decrease. What are we going to do about this?
Dr Yusuf Hamied: Covid has come here to stay, how can we tackle it long term is what we need to plan now?
Dr Kailash Chand: More testing so we’re not in danger of the second phase, addressing the so-called inequalities. It’s the fundamental reason why so many people have died, address the health and the inequalities. We have the highest death rate in Europe and second in the world, why are we where we are? This should be raising an inquiry.
Prof Kiran Patel: Behavioural science: Ensure individual responsibilities for behaviours such as social distancing, avoiding congregation, lifestyle measures and hygiene are clearly defined for BAME communities in the context of cultural issues – so tailoring advice
for Ramadan and religious festivals, among others. Individual risk reduction: Ensure we use Covid as an opportunity to reduce health inequalities relating to ethnicity. It is still debatable whether ethnicity per se is a risk factor but we do know that identified risk factors for adverse outcome such as the comorbidities of obesity (with the lower BMI thresholds for BAME groups), hypertension and diabetes are more prevalent in BAME groups and are more poorly managed in deprived populations. So, we must optimise the management of these conditions in BAME
groups – it is not too late to do that to reduce individual risk. The lifestyle measures which increased risk of adverse outcome are also areas to focus advice – stop smoking, exercise, lose weight – now is a pertinent time to address these social determinants. Workplace risk reduction: Ensure that employers provide individual risk assessment and risk reduction in line with the national framework we published; i.e. all individuals assess risk, ensure good access to appropriate PPE and employ mechanisms to ensure good communication and alleviation of anxiety.