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Spotlight Articles, News & links-
January 2003
Issue of the month - Ethnic Monitoring
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) defines
ethnic monitoring as a 'process you use to collect, store, and analyse
data about people’s ethnic backgrounds. You can use ethnic monitoring
to:
- highlight possible inequalities;
- investigate their underlying causes; and
- remove any unfairness or disadvantage;
- in employment, monitoring lets you examine the ethnic make-up of
your workforce and compare this with the data you are using as a benchmark.
It also lets you analyse how your personnel practices and procedures
affect different ethnic groups'.
On their website CRE addresses the question: WHY
MONITOR?
- Without ethnic monitoring, an organisation will never know whether
its equal opportunities policy is working. There is a risk that people
will just see the policy as paying lip service to racial equality.
If this happens, the policy could lose credibility and commitment
among the staff who have to deliver it, as well as the people who
are affected by it. To have an equality policy without ethnic monitoring
is like aiming for good financial management without keeping financial
records;
- Ethnic monitoring can tell you whether you are offering equality
of opportunity and treatment to all ethnic groups. It can also tell
you how and why you are falling short of this ideal. You can then
concentrate on finding solutions and making changes, rather than using
guesswork or assumptions. For example, an organisation that encourages
job applications from under-represented ethnic groups may be wasting
its time and money (and possibly doing more harm than good) if the
real reason for their under-representation is that they are already
applying, but being rejected, for whatever reason;
- Ethnic monitoring has wider benefits too. In employment, ethnic
monitoring can spot barriers that are preventing you from making use
of available talent. It also helps you to avoid what could be costly
complaints of racial discrimination, by making sure that you pick
up and tackle problems at an early stage. The costs of discrimination
claims can include legal fees, compensation payments, and management
time, not to speak of the emotional distress for those involved as
well as possible wider damage to staff morale;
- Finally, ethnic monitoring can help to improve your reputation as
a good and fair provider of goods or services, and as a good employer.
Ethnic Monitoring or profiling is an essential step in assessing the
health care needs of population.In service delivery, monitoring can
tell you which groups are using your services, and how satisfied they
are with them. You can then consider ways of reaching under-represented
groups and making sure that your services are relevant to their needs,
and provided fairly.
Accurate data on ethnic minority patients in mental health settings
is scarce. Steve Maddern argues the case of more effective data collection
to improve care planning and equity. This article was taken from Nursing
Management, Vol 8. No 5 (September 2001) pp.29 -33).
In October 2000, Data Set Change Notice 21/2000 advised that from April
2001 the Department of Health and the NHS would be using a new set of
16 ethnic categories in line with those developed for the 2001 Population
Census by the Office for National Statistics and the Commission for
Racial Equality. A further DSCN (02/2001), issued in February 2001,
informed the NHS of the detailed framework of ethnic coding to be used
by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the 2001 Census.
The introduction of the revised codes provides an opportunity to address
the broader issues around the collection, quality and use of race information,
particularly in light of the increased need for ethnic monitoring information
following the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. Such information
is also vital to addressing health inequalities and improvements in
public health and commissioning functions.
The attached guidance document and training materials deal with issues
directly related to the introduction of revised ethnic codes from April
2001 as well as tackling some of the wider issues that prevent the collection
of good quality ethnic information.
Guidance
The 34-page guidance document attached here Guidance
Material (pdf document) is aimed at all NHS staff involved
in the collection and use of ethnic category data, including:
- Personnel and Human Resources managers
- Key frontline staff (eg receptionists, admission clerks) and their
managers
- Clinical, nursing, paramedical and auxiliary staff
- Analytical or information staff
- Senior managers.
Training material
The training material is designed to be used by local trainers who
have the flexibility to "pick and mix" the material to best
suit local circumstances. It has been developed from material produced
by Alison Devlin at the South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust and includes:
A set of overview notes for trainers Overview and Trainers notes in
Word
and Portable
Document Format . The following are also available from the
DOH website:
A handout for delegates Handout in Word and Portable Document Format
- Suggested coding for non-standard replies Coding non standard replies
in Word and Portable Document Format
- Suggested prompt sheet for collecting data Prompt sheet in Word
and Portable Document Format
- A role-play exercise Roleplay exercise Word and Portable Document
Format
- A course evaluation sheet Evaluation Sheet Word and Portable Document
Format
- A set of 21 powerpoint slides Presentation slides
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