Public feel that NHS gives white people better care

Research has suggested that almost two-thirds of black people living in the UK think that the NHS does less to protect their health than that of white people.

Commissioned by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the survey found that 64 per cent of black people do not believe that their health is as protected by the NHS compared with white people’s, with that opinion strongest among black women.

When asked if they thought it was, 34.3 per cent disagreed and another 29.6 per cent disagreed strongly, while just 19.9 per cent agreed and a further 2.4 per cent agreed strongly.

Harriet Harman, the former cabinet minister who chairs the committee, said that the results pose ‘a major challenge’ to the health service, and further warned NHS bosses that they are obliged not to discriminate.

She said: “The state has a duty to protect life and not to discriminate. They have a duty to protect the lives of black and non-black people equally. These findings are stark, especially as so many black people work in the NHS yet still feel that it does not value their lives equally. The fact that this is most strongly felt by black women perhaps reflects women’s greater role in caring for children and older relatives.”

The committee commissioned the survey from Clear View Research as part of its work to better understand the views, attitudes and perceptions among the black community about how their human rights are protected. The findings arrive as the NHS continues to tackle the reasons behind the disproportionate number of deaths from coronavirus among its black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.