- Invitation re: Opening of the new Brixton Blood Donor Centre
For more information see email below:
Subject: Brixton’s Day of Culture, Community, and Life-Saving Impact
Hello,
The NHS Blood and Transplant are excited to invite you to a special event, For The Love: Celebrating Culture, Community, and Life-Saving Blood Donation, taking place in Brixton!
Date: Sunday 26th January
Location: Brixton House, SW9 8GL
Details: Booking Page Link
This vibrant day will celebrate Black culture through music, food, art, and inspiring guest speakers, while shining a light on the importance of blood donation and raising awareness of Sickle Cell—a blood disorder that primarily affects individuals of African and Caribbean heritage.
The event also marks the opening of the new Brixton Blood Donor Centre, a vital step toward improving health outcomes in our community.
We would love for you to join us and help spread the word about this important and inspiring event. Together, we can make a difference!
For more details or to book your spot, visit:
Event Page Link
We look forward to celebrating with you.
Best regards,
Matt Baynham
Senior Community Engagement Coordinator
NHS Blood & Transplant
Hope you can support this important event!
- Update on the Mental Health Bill
The Mental Health Bill was introduced into Parliament on 6 November 2024 and will modernise the Mental Health Act, although overall the bill contains only minor changes from the 2022 draft Mental Health Bill. The Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords at the end of November 2024.
Reducing racial disparities on the use of the Act was a key driver of the reforms. However, despite this important fact it is not part of the legislation. The patient and carer race equalities framework (PCREF) being used by the system as the key vehicle in reducing racial disparities that exist within the Mental Health Act and in wider services. In addition, the exclusion of patients involved in criminal proceedings from the reform may also increase racial disparities regarding detentions given black people are significantly more likely to access mental health support through the criminal justice system and are over-represented in secure mental health care.
That said, the aim of the Bill is to give patients a greater say in their care, along with bolstered support from family and friends as part of treatment to ensure that their interests are protected and their voice is heard throughout the treatment process.
In addition, to making it a legal requirement for each patient to have a care treatment plan, the Bill will also give patients the right to an Advance Choice Document, which can be used by patients to set out what they want their care to look like in the event of a mental health crisis. These changes ensure that care is tailored to individual needs and encourage patients to remain in contact with health services and continue to engage with treatment.
Police and prison cells will also no longer be used to place people who need care under the Mental Health Act. Instead patients will be supported to access a suitable healthcare facility that will better support their needs.
The Bill is expected to receive royal assent in summer 2025 and once enacted will be phased in over 8 to 10 years.
There can be no doubt that the Bill is a good thing and long overdue, but the Bill not addressing specifically the racial disparities that exist is a bad thing for BME communities.
- Consultation on the regulation of NHS managers
As you may be aware the Health Secretary has vowed to rid the NHS of “rotten apple” senior managers who earn £145,000 a year. He has stated that it was a “guilty secret” of the NHS that poorly performing leaders were able to “reincarnate” elsewhere in the service.
The government has launched a public consultation seeking views on proposals to regulate NHS managers to ensure they follow professional standards and are held to account. The Department of Health and Social Care will also consult on whether to introduce a new professional duty of candour on managers and, in addition, make managers accountable for responding to patient safety concerns. The consultation concerns:
- Regulation that prevents NHS managers with a record of poor performance or misconduct from working in healthcare.
- Introduction of a statutory duty of candour which would make NHS managers legally accountable for responding to concerns about patient safety.
- Holding NHS managers to account when they do not listen to individuals who raise concerns or endanger patient safety.
We will keep watching this space!
- Research to examine racial and ethnic biases in the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS)
Launched in 2018, the NHS GMS seeks to provide equitable access to genomic testing. However, in December 2024 the NHS Race and Health Observatory (RHO) and NHS England launched an 18-month research project to address the disparities faced by ethnic minority groups in accessing genomic medicine.
The research will be undertaken in partnership with the South East and Central & South NHS GMS Alliances and the University of Oxford. The aim is to identify and remove barriers that limit access to genomic services for BME communities.
We will keep you posted!
- BME workers doing nightshifts has skyrocketed
On 26 October 2024 the TUC published new analysis which reveals that the number of BME workers regularly doing night shift has rocketed while the number for white workers has fallen. The analysis is published as part of a new joint union report.
Information about the analysis on the TUC website reads as follows:
TUC-Number of Black and ethnic minority workers doing nightshifts has “skyrocketed” by 360,000 over the last decade
- While number of white workers doing night work has fallen, BME workers make up a disproportionate part of UK night work force, with numbers of BME night workers rising by 360,000 – a 71% increase since 2014
- Night workers are twice as likely to be on zero hours contracts than the general population
- Union report shows that night workers face significant health and safety risks because of long and repeated night shifts
- TUC says the Employment Rights Bill will make a deliver real improvement in the lives of those doing night work
As the clocks go back tonight (Saturday), the TUC has published new analysis which reveals the number of Black and ethnic minority (BME) workers regularly doing night shifts has skyrocketed.
While number of white workers doing night work has fallen, BME workers are increasingly bearing the brunt of night shifts.
The analysis shows that 360,000 more BME staff are working through the night compared to 2014 – a rise of 71%.
By contrast, the number of white workers regularly doing night shifts has fallen by more than 570,000 (a 19% reduction).
1 in 6 BME workers now do regular night work – compared to 1 in 11 white workers.
Other groups for whom night work has become more common since 2014 include young workers (age 16-24) – where there has been an increase of 37,500, and older workers (55+), with an increase of 178,200.
Sectors where night workers are mostly found include transport and storage; health and social work; and accommodation and food services.
Extra demand on night workers
This analysis is published as part of a new joint union report-undertaken on behalf of Community, CWU, Equity, RMT and TSSA by University of Greenwich and Anglia Ruskin University – which shows staff shortages are leading to excessive work demands being placed on night workers.
These include night workers working overtime to cover for vacancies or colleagues’ absences and undertaking longer and more intensive shifts.
According to the unions’ report, the health risks of regular night work include cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders such as diabetes and metabolic disorders.
Night shift intensification also leads to excessive fatigue, as well as to deterioration of family and social relations.
Further, night workers face safety risks when travelling to and from shifts, particularly women.
Employment Rights Bill will help night workers
The TUC says the forthcoming Employment Rights Bill will lead to real improvements in working conditions for those doing regular night shifts.
Night workers are twice as likely to be on zero-hours contracts.
Under the government’s plans exploitative ZHCs will be banned. And workers will be given compensation if their shifts are cancelled at the last minute.
According to the Department for Business and Trade, cleaners working night shifts – on an average annual wage of £21,058 – are among those who are set to gain new protections worth an extra £600 a year.
Commenting on the challenges faced by night workers, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“We all owe Britain’s night workers a huge debt for keeping the country running while the rest of us are asleep.
“They do vital work. But too many night workers are on insecure contracts that can often lead to exploitation, excessive fatigue and a breakdown of personal relationships.
“And it is no coincidence that the burden of nightwork now disproportionally falls on Black and ethnic minority workers. This is the result of persistent structural inequalities in our labour market.
“The government’s landmark Employment Rights Bill will bring real benefits and protections for night workers – including a ban on exploitative zero-hours contracts and compensation for cancelled shifts.
“Further, the Bill will ensure that workers have a stronger voice in the workplace – which can include proper consultation of workers around shift patterns they are expected to take on.”
Sian Moore, Professor of Work and Employment, Anglia Ruskin University, said:
“Scientific research shows that night work has significant impacts on workers’ physical and mental health.
“Our interviews with night workers show that they are sleep deprived and permanently fatigued, with insufficient time for recovery between shifts and recovery eating into workers’ own time.
“Women worked nights to enable them to take and collect children to and from school and in order to avoid childcare costs. There were reports of parents swapping children in car parks between their shifts.
“Yet nightwork has negative effects on relationships with partners and children and on social lives.
“Those on night shifts may be lone workers and thus face significant risk, including dealing with violence.
“Many night workers are not paid extra or sufficiently to compensate them for these risks, which have particular impacts as workers get older.”
ENDS
Editor’s note
Notes to Editors
| Q2 2014 | Q2 2024 | |||
| Number of workers usual to work at night | % | Number of workers usual to work at night | % | |
| Overall | 3,561,926 | 12.0 | 3,352,450 | 10.7 |
| Male | 2,236,024 | 14.2 | 2,031,771 | 12.6 |
| Female | 1,325,902 | 9.6 | 1,320,679 | 8.7 |
| White | 3,047,965 | 11.5 | 2,478,156 | 9.5 |
| BME | 510,946 | 16.6 | 872,411 | 17.2 |
|
Breakdown by age groups |
||||
| 16-19yrs | 86,758 | 9.5 | 100,918 | 11.0 |
| 20-24yrs | 340,679 | 13.7 | 363,987 | 15.5 |
| 25-29yrs | 446,368 | 14.4 | 345,456 | 10.7 |
| 30-34yrs | 437,861 | 13.1 | 410,179 | 11.4 |
| 35-39yrs | 403,549 | 12.9 | 416,987 | 11.8 |
| 40-44yrs | 449,749 | 12.8 | 363,552 | 10.1 |
| 45-49yrs | 471,992 | 12.3 | 301,365 | 9.2 |
| 50-54yrs | 400,015 | 11.2 | 346,869 | 10.2 |
| 55-59yrs | 274,175 | 9.7 | 305,977 | 9.3 |
| 60-64yrs | 160,280 | 9.2 | 251,495 | 10.3 |
| 65-69yrs | 57,937 | 7.5 | 83,349 | 8.5 |
| 70 and over | 32,563 | 7.8 | 62,318 | 10.7 |
| Sectors with the highest incidence of night workers, 2024 data | |
| Transport and storage | 22.0% |
| Health and social work | 20.2% |
| Accommodation and food services | 19.6% |
| Arts, entertainment and recreation | 15.1% |
| Public admin and defence | 13.2% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 12.8% |
| Admin and support services | 11.1% |
| Electricity, gas, air cond supply | 10.7% |
| Water supply, sewerage, waste | 9.8% |
| Manufacturing | 9.6% |
| Wholesale, retail, repair of vehicles | 8.7% |
Methodology
TUC analysis of Labour Force Survey Q2 2014 and Q2 2024.
No surprises then!