Page last updated: 25-AUG-2009

Ethnic Data Collection

Statistical Publication Notice

25 August 2009

Improving ethnic data collection for equality and diversity monitoring.

INTRODUCTION

Routine recording of ethnicity is required in order to demonstrate that the NHS in Scotland is meeting legal obligations through the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 which requires statutory bodies, including the NHS, to "..eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups."
 
Complete routine data would allow the NHS to monitor services to ensure that people of all ethnic groups are being treated fairly and equally and to help assess the health needs of different groups.
 
Ethnic group is recorded in hospital discharge data in England in over 90% of episodes, but the level of recording in Scotland remains very low.

KEY POINTS

  • For Scotland as a whole, the recording of ethnicity remains low: a valid ethnic group code was recorded in only 23.7% of inpatient and daycase records (SMR01) and only 14.7% of new outpatient appointment records (SMR00) in the quarter ending March 2009.
  • Over the last two years Lanarkshire, Borders and Golden Jubilee National Hospital (GJNH) have made substantial improvements in recording, with some other Boards achieving modest improvements.
  • However, many Boards continue to show little or no improvement in recording. For SMR01 records and/or SMR00 records, Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway, Forth Valley, Highland, Tayside and the Island Boards continue to have recording levels persistently below 1%.

INTERPRETATION

Percentage with a valid ethnic group relates to records completed with a valid ethnic group or patient refusal codes only. Records completed with 'Not Known' codes or left blank are not deemed to be a valid ethnic group.
 
Patients are not compelled to provide information about their ethnic group and a 'declined to provide' response is included in the total of valid codes in these figures.
 
Ethnic Group can not be recorded on the Patient Administration System at some hospitals at present, and so this information may be collected locally but not recorded on SMRs submitted to the national database.

Data from November 2008 are provisional and may not be 100% complete, although the figures are not expected to change significantly.

DETAILED FINDINGS

For inpatient and daycase discharges (the SMR01 database) the overall level of completeness for ethnic group recording was 23.7% for Scotland as a whole for the quarter ending March 2009. This has been driven by a small number of Boards that have made significant progress over a relatively short period of time. The highest level of recording for this quarter was Lanarkshire (80.9%), followed by GJNH (76.6%) and Borders (66.8%). However, six Boards had recording levels persistently below 1% throughout the period April 2007 to March 2009.
 
For new outpatient appointments (the SMR00 database) the overall level of completeness for ethnic group recording was 14.7% for Scotland as a whole for the quarter ending March 2009. Similar to SMR01, this has been driven by a small number of Boards that have made significant progress; the highest level of recording for this quarter was Lanarkshire (65%), followed by Borders (39.7%). Seven Boards had recording levels persistently below 1% throughout the period April 2007 to March 2009.

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MAIN CONTACTS:

Joan Jamieson
Equality and Diversity Development Programme Manager
0141 282 2250
07917086987
Joan.Jamieson@nhs.net

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GLOSSARY:

Ethnicity is "the social group a person belongs to, and either identifies with or is identified with by others, as a result of a mix of cultural and other factors including language, diet, religion, ancestry and physical features traditionally associated with race". (Bhopal, 2004). Ethnicity is essentially self-defined and may change over time. Classification of ethnicity is based on categories that include common self-descriptions, are acceptable to respondents and that identify variations that are important for research or policy. Ethnicity is different from country of origin, since many countries include more than one ethnic group.

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PRE-RELEASE ACCESS

Under terms of the "Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008", ISD are obliged to publish information on those receiving Pre-Release Access ("Pre-Release Access" refers to statistics in their final form prior to publication). The standard maximum Pre-Release Access is five working days. Shown below are details of those receiving standard Pre-Release Access and, separately, those receiving extended Pre-Release Access.
 
Standard (five day) Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
NHS Board Chief Executives
NHS Board Communication leads
 
Extended Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
This extended Pre-Release Access is given to a small number of named individuals in the Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division). This Pre-Release Access is for the sole purpose of enabling that department to gain an understanding of the statistics prior to briefing others in Scottish Government (during the period of standard Pre-Release Access).
 
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HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:

Last Published: February 2009
Next Due: February 2010
Data Available Since: n/a

 


Main contact: Email Joan.Jamieson@nhs.net