Shocking ethnic minority health inequalities revealed by study
Huge health inequalities in ethnic minorities, compared with white British people, have been revealed following England’s largest ever study of over-55s.
Huge health inequalities in ethnic minorities, compared with white British people, have been revealed following England’s largest ever study of over-55s.
The study, carried out by the University of Manchester, revealed an increased likelihood of people from some ethnic minority groups, particularly Asian groups, reporting poor experiences at their GP.
The authors of the study suggest this may indicate an unfairness within NHS services, which would worsen health inequalities in some ethnic minority groups.
Dr Ruth Watkinson, lead author from the University of Manchester, told The Manc: “We’re interested in health inequalities, particularly thinking about what kinds of health inequalities might be really relevant to the population here in Manchester.
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“Compared to the whole of the UK there are more people [in Manchester] living in socially deprived neighbourhoods and a larger proportion of people from ethnic minority groups.”
People from almost all of the ethnic groups surveyed were considerably more likely to report insufficient help from their local services in managing their health conditions.
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The lead author suggests there is much more attention brought to these disparities at the moment due to the disproportionate impact of COVID on ethnic minority groups.
Dr Watkinson added: “People try to explain these things away and say ‘well it’s genetic predisposition’ or ‘it’s behavioural differences’ but there’s no way that genetics links people of all those different ethnic minority groups.
“Terms like ‘BAME’ often mask the idea that these are very different groups of people, the only thing that links them is that they are racially ‘minoritised’ in this country because of systemic racism.”
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Findings revealed the average health of 60 year olds from Gypsy or Irish traveller, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Arab groups was similar to that of a typical 80 year old.
Other key findings included that older people from ethnic minority groups were more likely to report suffering from common long-term health conditions such as diabetes, or even having two or more conditions.
Additionally, older Bangladeshi women were around three times more likely to report poor experiences in comparison to older white British women.
Dr Watkinson stated: “The NHS as an institution is failing people from some ethnic groups. Policy action is needed to transform healthcare and wider support services to make sure they meet the needs of all individuals in England’s multi-ethnic population fairly.
“A lot of long-term chronic health conditions shouldn’t need to impact your quality of life but they often do if you’re not getting the healthcare that you need.
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“Unfortunately our research is coming at a time when the government is stepping away from focusing on inequalities due to ethnicity. But I would hope ideally that the government would start to make ethinic equality absolutely fundamental across all parts of the public sector.
“If we made these problems so much more visible then we could identify targets and enforce change.”
The study was carried out by the University of Manchester / Image: Wikimedia Commons
Dr Watkinson also said that policy makers “need to address the structural racism” that makes it harder for people within ethnic minority groups to access socioeconomic opportunities.
Co-author Dr Alex Turner, said: “Researchers haven’t been able to research the health outcomes of people over 55 in ethnic minority groups, because they aren’t included in sufficient numbers in most datasets.
“And much official data doesn’t distinguish between groups, which can mask inequalities.
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“But this study allowed us to analyse results for all 18 of the UK census ethnic groups separately, allowing us to see differences between them.”
It is clear that more data is needed to better understand what drives these health inequalities; and researchers suggest collecting info with more inclusion of people from ethnic minority groups is required.
*The study which was published in Lancet Public Health, used the England-wide GP Patient Surveys to analyse responses from nearly 1.4 million 55+ adults between 2015 and 2017. The sample included over 150,000 people who self-identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group.
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Review | Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
The Manc -
15th February 2021 
