NMC to contribute to new research investigating Covid-19 effect on BAME health and care workers

The Nursing and Midwifery Council will be contributing to the UK Research Study in Ethnicity and Covid-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers (UK-REACH), announced today by the NIHR and UKRI.

From the start of the pandemic, evidence has steadily emerged which has shown that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are nearly twice as likely to die of Covid-19 as white people. A recent analysis by Public Health England has also shown that that BAME healthcare professionals were also disproportionately more likely to die from the virus.

The UK-REACH study, led by Dr Manish Pareek at the University of Leicester, seeks to calculate the risk of Covid-19 to BAME healthcare professionals across all four countries of the UK, and aims to provide that evidence to policymakers so they can make decisions in real-time. The study will follow a group of BAME healthcare workers over the next 12 months to understand their job risks, any changes they may have made to their work or social behaviours as a result of Covid and assess their physical and mental health.

The NMC is part of a team of health and care organisations supporting the research, including the General Medical Council, General Dental Council and NHS Employers.

Andrea Sutcliffe CBE, Chief Executive and Registrar for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, said:

“As the professional regulator for nursing and midwifery professionals across all four countries of the UK, we will continue to play our part to address the disproportionate effect of Covid-19 on professionals from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

“I’m delighted the NMC has been invited to contribute to this important work. No health and care professional should face greater risk to their safety because of a lack of understanding of their needs or effective action to protect them. The virus has exposed pre-existing health inequalities and it’s vital we work together through initiatives like the UK-REACH study to understand why, in order to seek better support for BAME nursing and midwifery professionals and create valuable learning for the wider health and care system.”

More information is available here.

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