Biases in healthcare

HEALTH SECRETARY Sajid Javid’s inquiry into whether pulse oximeter settings may have led to a higher death toll among BAME patients suffering from coronavirus has been welcomed by the medical profession.

Doctors and other healthcare staff of Asian origin have been aware of widespread biases, but they will hope this is the first of many steps to tackle entrenched variations in medicine and pharmacology.

Only last week, another report highlighted how racism underpins poor quality care for those suffering from sickle cell anaemia, as patients tend to be from black or Caribbean backgrounds. From newborn baby weight charts to face masks, most studies have been done on white patients, and there is a growing realisation that lack of diversity while carrying out research or trials is having an impact on patient care.

According to the NHS Race and Health Observatory, black women are four times more likely than their white counterparts to die in pregnancy or child birth in the UK, while south Asian and black people are two-tofour times more likely than their white peers to contract type 2 diabetes.

In the past 18 months, observations on differences in outcomes by doctors on the frontline are finally being being taken seriously – but it should not have had to be this way. Many more lives could have been saved if biases could have been accounted for in standardised charts.

It has taken an Asian secretary of state to order an investigation – this is why BAME campaigners keep calling for diversity in leadership. It is not about lip service, but doing right by everyone, regardless of their skin colour, background or ethnicity.