Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Patient Experience Report - Hospitals

Due to COVID-19, we were unable to carry out our traditional face-to-face visits during this period. In adapting to these challenging new circumstances we developed and introduced a new model for our Patient Experience Programme, involving the collection of feedback via our zoom engagement sessions and collating existing online reviews from relevant platforms, such as NHS.uk, Google reviews, and Care Opinion. This report represents data gathered through these methods during the period of April 2020- March 2021.

In the interest of this being a summary report, the 24 different ethnic backgrounds identified have been consolidated into 5 main classifications listed below;

•  White Ethnic Background
•  Black Ethnic Background
•  Asian Ethnic Background
•  Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Background
•  Other Ethnic Background

We understand that these classifications can be too general but due to the small size of the data sets, in order to identify patterns and help with analysis, such grouping was required and may serve the purpose of prompting further investigation.

All our Patient Experience Officers have undergone Healthwatch England bespoke training around the importance of equality monitoring data and are utilising tips and techniques to improve uptake by patients that we speak to.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY FINDINGS

• Collection of equality monitoring data was reduced during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and the alternative engagement methods utilised during the period. Future improvement anticipated through return to face-to-face outreach.
• Healthwatch Lewisham had the largest proportion on BAME patients participating whilst Waltham Forest had the fewest. Cross checking against borough population breakdowns will help to guide borough patient experience programmes.
• Overall average star ratings for each ethnic group are at 4 out of 5 stars (when rounded).
• 83% of people from the White Ethnic Group rate positively (4 or 5 stars) compared to 74% of people from BAME groups.
• Black ethnic groups rate 76% positively (4 out of 5 stars) Asian ethnic groups rate 79% White ethnic groups rate 83%.
• Against 6 specific domain areas, the area receiving the lowest star rating for the White Ethnic group was ‘Ease of getting through on the phone’. For Asian, Black, Mixed and Other Ethnic Groups it was for ‘Waiting Times’.
• For the highest scoring areas there was a little more variation: White and Mixed ethnic groups – cleanliness; Asian and Black ethnic groups – Staff Attitude.
• ‘Waiting times’ receives not only the lowest star ratings overall, but also the highest levels of variance in ratings by different ethnic groups. This is followed by ‘Quality of Care’ and ‘Getting through on the telephone’ with the second and third highest levels of variance respectively.
• Analysis of qualitative comments from patients show very similar levels of positivity within the ‘Staff’ and ‘Administration’ themes for both White and BAME groups.
• Analysis of qualitative comments show disparate levels of positivity within the ‘Quality of care/treatment’ and ‘Appointments’ themes: Quality of Care – 80% vs 67% for White and BAME groups; Appointments - 45% vs 22%.