Health chiefs 'can't say how many people dying with Covid in Lancashire hospitals are black and ethnic minority'

Public Health England, NHS England, Lancashire County Council, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – which runs Preston and Chorley hospitals – all came up empty-handed when contacted by the Post.

That’s despite politicians and experts warning six months ago that failing to publish data held on the deaths of BAME patients from Covid-19 could put lives at risk.

“We don’t have that data”, Public Health England said, while the Department of Health said figures are collected by NHS England – which said it does “not give a breakdown by ethnicity”.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals said Public Health England may “hold this data”, which it doesn’t, and the county council said it relies “on NHS figures”.

Even the Office for National Statistics, which does record the data at a national level, said it does “not have breakdowns by region or NHS trust as it would be too disclosive”.

Coronavirus-related deaths at Royal Preston Hospital have surged in recent days – with 27 in 11 days.

That has been echoed by tweets from the Preston Muslim Burial Society, which announced two deaths in August but seven in September and nine so far this month, though the Society did not reveal causes of death and could not be reached for an immediate comment.

A staff member at Royal Preston Hospital, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity, said: “I have real worries about why they are suppressing the data.

“If they talk about it, they will have to do something about it.”

Earlier this year, Lord Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, which campaigns for greater racial justice and equality in the UK, said: “Anecdotally, we know that Covid-19 is having a devastating impact on BAME communities, particularly in England.

“We suspect that BAME individuals, including frontline and essential workers, are disproportionately exposed to this virus.

“If Public Health England has ethnic data on who’s dying in hospital, they must release it.

"Only with transparency of data and quick action from all relevant agencies will we save lives.”

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals declined to comment when asked whether it could say how many deaths, as a percentage, have been amongst the BAME community, and what could be done to tackle the problem.

A Public Health England report published in June, called Covid-19: Review of disparities in risks and outcomes, indicated that a range of people, including those from ethnic minority backgrounds, were most disproportionately impacted by Covid-19.

It found the increased risk of death involving Covid for people from a black ethnic background was two times greater for males and 1.4 times greater for females compared with white people.

A more recent report by the Cabinet Office’s race disparity unit said current evidence shows a range of socioeconomic and geographical factors contributed to the higher infection and mortality rates for ethnic minority groups.

These include occupational exposure, population density, household composition, and preexisting health conditions.

But it said a part of the excess risk remains unexplained for some groups.

BAME people are not only at increased risk of dying, with financial experts saying they – and young people – are also more likely to loss their job post-furlough.

They have been worst hit by the winding down of the Government’s job retention scheme, research published yesterday by the Resolution Foundation think tank showed.

About 22 per cent of BAME workers who had been supported by the subsidies were unemployed last month, a figure only matched by those who were previously in insecure work.

The proportion was also particularly high for 18-24 year-olds, standing at 19 per cent, and for hospitality workers, at 15 per cent.

This is despite the figure for the general population being nine per cent, according to the study, which was based on a survey of more than 6,000 adults.

Researcher Kathleen Henehan said: “The true nature of Britain’s jobs crisis is starting to reveal itself.

"Around one-in-five young people, and over one-in-five BAME workers, have fallen straight from furloughing into unemployment.

“Worryingly, fewer than half of those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic have been able to find work since.

"This suggests that even if the public health crisis recedes in a few months’ time, Britain’s jobs crisis will be with us for far longer.”

Decades of structural discrimination led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on BAME communities, a review found.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence identified structural inequalities within government, health, employment and the education system that Covid-19 “thrived on” as the outbreak took hold.

BAME people have been overexposed to the virus by being over-represented in public-facing industries where they cannot work from home and living in overcrowded housing.

Workers have been put at risk by the Government’s failure to facilitate Covid-secure workplaces, and the “no recourse to public funds” rule has disproportionately affected BAME communities, she said.

They have also experienced “disgraceful racism”, fuelled in part by global leaders calling Covid-19 the “Chinese virus”.

A 20-point plan to help protect the BAME community has since been set out.

In the past 11 days, deaths at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals have risen from 266 to 293.

The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 has also increased, from 89 to 118, but the number in intensive care dropped from 12 to 10.

The total number of those discharged rose to 853 from 763.

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