Latest news with #ethnicminorities
BBC News
18 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
No WiFi is 'health barrier' for Cumbrian ethnic minorities
A lack of wi-fi to use translate services to access basic health care services is one of the major barriers affecting ethnic minority communities in north and west Cumbria, according to a new Faisal Solkar told Cumberland Council's health and wellbeing board that "language barriers and trust issues" has lead to an overuse of accident and emergency among ethic minority Health Needs Assessment: Ethnic Minorities 2025 report also listed perception of care, navigation and awareness issues, service availability and service accessibility as other barriers. Dr Solkar, who carried out the research, said: "Language remains a significant barrier in health care." The report also stated the maternal mortality rate in black and mixed ethnicity groups was three times higher than in white communities. The five core recommendations in the report were: Improve communication and information accessExpand interpretation servicesRequire ethnicity data collection across all health and social care settingsIncrease access to preventative careAdopt patient-centred approachesIn addition, there were three supporting recommendations which were to introduce multi-lingual booking systems, provide digital access support and strengthen community engagement, the Local Democracy Reporting Service response to language barriers, Colin Cox, the council's director of public health, customer and community wellbeing, said the latest generation of iPhones had simultaneous translation apps."We've got that technology available to us and we've got to be investing in it," he Elaine Lynch suggested a pilot scheme could be introduced at a Carlisle medical practice to help tackle language noted the report and agreed the communication and translation pilot should be explored further. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BreakingNews.ie
2 days ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Police vow to pursue rioters as man is jailed over Belfast disorder
Police have said they will continue to pursue those involved in disorder in Belfast last summer, after a man was jailed for rioting. Matthew Brogan, 29, from Drumbeg South in Craigavon, was sentenced to a total of 40 months, 20 of which will be spent on licence after his release, at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday. Advertisement Police said the offences occurred during sustained disorder in Belfast on August 3rd, 2024, after an anti-immigration rally. Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said an illegal parade had followed the rally. Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said police will continue to pursue those involved in rioting (Mark Marlow/PA) He added: 'A short time later, prolonged public disorder broke out which saw businesses and vehicles burnt and police officers attacked. 'In the following days, unrest and attacks on the homes and businesses of those from ethnic minority backgrounds continued. Advertisement 'Since then, we have had a dedicated public order inquiry team in place, working tirelessly to ensure that all those involved in this shameful violence were brought before our courts to face the consequences of their actions.' Mr Beck added: 'From around 8pm that Saturday, police evidence-gathering teams observed a man in a light-blue hooded top in the Sandy Row area. 'He was filmed engaging with masked individuals and throwing both masonry and bottles at police. 'At around 9.40pm the same man, now wearing a yellow T-shirt, was seen in our footage opening a gate for a group of people who had broken into a car near to a community centre. Advertisement 'The car was moved and set alight in Wellwood Street. 'Subsequently, we released a number of still images from our recorded footage to the public, appealing for their help in identifying those suspected to be involved in the disorder. 'Community information led to Matthew Brogan being identified as the man in the distinctive yellow T-shirt.' The senior officer said 14 people have now been sentenced in relation to last year's violence, but Brogan is the first sentenced for the offence of riot. Advertisement He added: 'Twenty-three cases are still going through our courts, and our wider investigation continues. 'The Police Service of Northern Ireland will ensure that anyone who chooses to take part in this type of criminality is brought to justice, just as Brogan has been today. 'We continue to appeal to anyone who has been the victim of, or has any information on, any crime to contact police on 101, or 999 in an emergency. We can assure you that we will always act on concerns and information we receive.'
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
At-home HPV test kits to be offered to thousands of women in England
Women who have delayed coming forward for cervical screening will be offered a test to be taken at home, NHS England has DIY test kits, available from January, contain a long cotton-wool bud to swab the lining of the test is for human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes most cervical cancers, and women between the ages of 25 and 64 are offered it every few more than five million women aren't up to date with the test, according to the government. The Department for Health and Social Care in England said the scheme would tackle "deeply entrenched barriers" that keep women away from cervical can be due to embarrassment, discomfort, lack of time as well as religious or cultural 68.8% of women currently take up the offer of cervical cancer screening - well below the NHS England target of 80%.Younger women, those with a disability, ethnic minority communities and LGBT+ groups are more likely to miss appointments.A recent trial showed the rollout of home test kits across England could increase the proportion screened to 77% over three Department of Health said women who had rarely or never attended cervical screening would be offered a self-sample kit to complete at home. The kits are sent out "in discreet packaging" and the return postage is pre-paid. The test checks for HPV alone, but if that's detected then women will be invited for to see a doctor who will check for cell changes which could indicate and Social Care secretary Wes Streeting said: "We know the earlier cancer is diagnosed the better the chances are of survival. "By making screening more convenient, we're tackling the barriers that keep millions of women from potentially life-saving tests."Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said "beating cervical cancer means beating it for everyone" adding that at-home testing "helps to bring us closer to that goal". 'I'm absolutely thrilled' Hazel Stinson, 49, from Kent, suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and was last able to visit the GP for a cervical screening six years says she is "absolutely thrilled" that at-home testing is being rolled out across England."This will mean that I and millions of other people just like me will be able to have the test when otherwise they might not be able to do it," she Stinson said as someone with chronic fatigue, which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME, "the most important thing is to advocate for yourself".She says she has always been left "feeling fearful" that her inability to attend the GP regularly for tests like cervical screening could really affect her health."I'm unwell enough as it is - I really don't want anything else on top of this," she explained. NHS England recently announced a separate change to the timing of cervical screening women aged 25-49 have a negative test for HPV from this summer, they will wait five years until their next screening appointment instead of three. Research shows they're at very low risk of cervical cancer and can safely wait longer to be screened again. Main symptoms of cervical cancer vaginal bleeding that's unusual for you – including during or after sex, between periods or after the menopause - or heavier periods than usualchanges to vaginal dischargepain during sex or in the lower back, lower tummy or between the hip bones (pelvis)Source: NHS
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Assisted dying bill debate sparks conversations across communities
"Death is a very, very sensitive issue. Who are we to make that decision?"That question, raised at a recent event at the WomenZone community centre in Bradford, touches on the profound dilemmas MPs will face in Friday's debate about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) bill - better known as the assisted dying of the bill see it as a compassionate move towards dignity in worry about its ethical implications and, for some, whether the most vulnerable will be left behind. For Tahera Kacholia, whose husband died after a heart attack only a few months ago, it is an uncomfortable and perhaps unanswerable question."Who are we to make that decision? We leave it to Allah," she says. Jordan Findlay, who lost her mum a decade ago, is on the other side of the her, the assisted dying bill is about restoring dignity."When you have a terminal diagnosis, all control is taken away. This bill gives some of that dignity and choice back," she says. The Bradford discussion, organised by palliative care consultant Dr Jamilla Hussain, reveals deep anxiety among ethnic minority communities in particular, shaped not just by religion but by feelings of cultural exclusion, historic mistrust of institutions, and fears around coercion."But still, we do want our say. We do want to discuss it," adds Mrs participant echoes that: "We are not saying stop the bill – but start listening properly before you proceed."Mrs Kacholia believes spiritually sensitive care and localised support are being overlooked."There are other ways to help ease the pain," she explains. The assisted dying bill, brought by Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater, would legalise euthanasia for terminally ill adults expected to live for less than six safeguards would include approval from two doctors and a review panel. In a final plea to MPs earlier this week, Ms Leadbeater said failure to act now would be "a dereliction of duty" and would delay change by a in Bradford, that duty, many argue, must include better grassroots engagement - particularly in communities who already feel some, Covid intensified existing fears, for others, such as Ghazala Khalid, the mistrust dates back 2017, her mother had a stroke and doctors told the family she would not mother lived not just that night -but for another two years."After God, we trust doctors - we say our life is in their hands," she says."That doesn't mean they know everything or they can do whatever they want." Dr Hussain has spent months gathering views from ethnic minority and marginalised communities across the says many families worry vulnerable people, such as those with disabilities, learning difficulties or experiencing domestic abuse, may be manipulated and coerced into making irreversible decisions."We've heard from parents of disabled children and carers for people with learning difficulties."They told us, 'we know our children best - but this bill puts the power in the hands of someone who may not understand them,'" she women in abusive situations could there be additional layers of risk?"Someone might seem of sound mind in a medical assessment. But what happens before they walk into that room? What has that person been coached to say - or coerced into believing?"The biggest risk is that people who already experience inequality in end-of-life care will now fear accessing care at all," Dr Hussain says. Just a few miles away in Leeds, campaigner Jordan Findlay believes the conversation must also centre on those already mother, Anne Louise Findlay, died of cancer 10 years ago, aged 57."She made it very clear that if she had the opportunity to access assisted dying, she would have," says Miss over finance and legal implications stopped the family accessing euthanasia abroad, she says."She wasn't suicidal. She was just beyond medical help. Even with good palliative care, the pain was unmanageable," Miss Findlay 18, she dropped out of her A-levels and helped care for her mum at home."The real moral choice would have been to let her go peacefully, on her terms," she proffers. Jordan now campaigns for law reform with the Dignity in Dying charity and believes robust safeguards can prevent abuse."Doctors already assess coercion and capacity for serious decisions every day. With training and multiple safeguards, I believe we can do this safely," she in Bradford, Dr Hussain agrees the debate needs to balance compassion with caution - especially for those already on the margins of care."There are a growing number of medical and neutral voices calling for more work around those safeguards."MPs must be happy that the safeguards not included in the bill are OK when they vote today.""I'm not personally against assisted dying," she adds. "For some, it may be the right choice. "But we cannot ignore the fears of those already marginalised. If we get this wrong, they will be the collateral damage."For Jordan, the call to listen must also include hearing those who simply want peace."This isn't about rushing death," she said. "It's about allowing people who are dying anyway to say, 'I'm ready'. "That's not giving up - it's an act of love." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Telegraph
20-06-2025
- Telegraph
The anti-woke brigade won't like it, but this ‘inclusive' museum is actually rather good
Past mountainous warehouses, down a listless canal, and into the quiet academic quarter with its beige halls soaring into skies that never seem to cease to rain, stands Manchester Museum. With the institution freshly glistening with ' European Museum of the Year 2025 ' status, I ventured in to see if this superlative accolade is justified, immersing myself in ancient earrings, psychedelic rickshaws and the tooth of an 80-million-year-old shark, the mellow rain of Manchester pattering on the roof. The museum's purpose is written in the atrium: 'To build understanding between cultures and a more sustainable world.' This isn't really a museum about Manchester, more of artefacts, animals and artworks that have ended up in the museum's collection, and a mosaic of perspectives from ethnic minority communities living in, studying at, or in some way associated with Manchester. It strives to be 'the most inclusive, imaginative and caring museum you'll ever visit'. Essentially, the museum is about belonging. It is this bold curatorial line that gives it a distinctive flavour, with each of the four main galleries contributing to the central theme in interesting and surprising ways. I first entered Ancient History, Contemporary Belonging, a gallery of ancient and medieval artefacts from Anatolian earrings to marvellously-preserved Roman playing pieces, ancient Egyptian cat idols to hoards of delicate medieval silver coins. The rooms are a little over-stuffed, and some of the information plaques positioned so low that all the stooping became exhausting. I had to be economical in what I examined, but this made me worry that I was overlooking some gems, sometimes quite literally. Despite these gripes – entrance is free, anyhow, so you can always come back – a strong flavour of displacement emerged, a synergy between the migration of ancient historical objects and of people. More topical than ever at a time when George Osborne is reportedly negotiating a 'reciprocal, long-term loan' which would send the Elgin Marbles back to Greece, it was hard to peruse the collection without wondering how on earth so many of these rare finds ended up in Manchester and the answers, one suspects, are not always savoury. You're encouraged to consider the human stories of migration, the sometimes traumatic tales of persecution, forced upheaval and dreams of a better life that help to explain how a Mesopotamian hair-pin fetched up in front of you. Many museums now engage in this kind of soul-searching, but here it is taken a step further. Manchester University students of migrant heritage have been invited to respond. The juxtaposition of an 'official' plaque next to a personal response presents a person's lived experience as an echo of the narrative. On paper, this is fraught with risk, threatening to debase the whole thing into mawkish amateurishness. But many of the responses are in fact profoundly moving, making the galleries feel less lofty and academic than their equivalents in, say, the Ashmolean or the British Museum. The next gallery focuses on animals that belong – or should belong, if we weren't doing so much to make the earth uninhabitable. Cinematically lit, with a veritable menagerie of taxidermy and lifelike models, this is an emporium of wonder, at times a cacophony of delighted children's wails. It was exhilarating to stare into the eyes of an African hunting dog, a North American woodchuck, or Maude the tigon – a cross between a male tiger and a lioness, once a beloved feature of Manchester's Belle Vue Zoo – finally on display after 70 long years existing as a rolled-up skin in a storage vault. Stuck on one glass panel, in stark red letters, is the word 'Decolonise!' – signalling its inclusion in the museum's Decolonise! Trail. Of course, this will make some people groan. But the manner in which it is done, at least, is original. It feels like a Just Stop Oil-style organisation has placed it here; a performative act of self-sabotage. It's just one act of curatorial dandyism. Elsewhere, an empty glass box commemorates species that became extinct. In another display, the stuffed heads of tigers and lions loom like phantoms of guilt over black-and-white photographs of hunters. It's only when the curatorial voice slips from posing questions to telling you the answers that the device galls. I felt this peering into a surrealist reconstruction of a curator's office, eerily frozen in time since the 1920s, all mahogany desks and exotic bric-a-brac. It is, we are told, 'like a glimpse of our colonial unconscious' – yet all I could think about was how cosy and charming it looked compared with soulless modern offices. The South Asia Gallery – bright, airy, perfectly spaced – casts a spotlight on the experiences of British Asian communities. Scenes of oppression, violence and starvation under the East India Company and the Raj are included, as one might expect, appearing as incongruously beautiful panels in the atrium. Objects that were 'violently plundered', were are told, have not been included. One of the most poignant parts of this gallery are the displays that bring to life 'hidden' voices within British-Asian communities. The prejudice historically felt by mixed-race Asians is rendered palpable and real. The exhibition on LGBT people of British Asian heritage is particularly moving: their feelings of loneliness, confusion and self-loathing, as well as hope, are all conjured from cuttings from 1990s magazines, help forum notices and leaflets. A final gallery attempts the same thing (slightly less successfully) from an East Asian perspective. I was fascinated to learn that Manchester has a higher proportion of Chinese émigrés than any other city in Europe. It's one of the few revelations we get about Manchester itself. I hankered for more on how this great industrial behemoth came to be, and its later metamorphosis into a modern city of culture. Many, no doubt, would find the emphasis upon displacement, multicultural identity and preserving the environment preachy and over-rehearsed. Some might even declare the whole thing a Trojan's Horse of woke tosh (when I'd read that the museum has 'safe spaces' for anyone who finds the exhibitions traumatising, I did cringe). But Manchester Museum nails its colours to the mast. And it's only fair to judge something by what it is trying to achieve. Does it succeed on its own terms? Overwhelmingly, yes.
