Have you ever wondered just how the NHS in Scotland can prove it is free of discrimination in how it delivers services to patients ? You should. Because it can’t.
The NHS in Scotland cannot evidence that Catholic patients get as good results from NHS treatments as do Protestant patients.
The NHS cannot evidence that people identifying as Black Minority Ethnic get as good results from treatments as do White people.
The NHS does not even routinely measure and gather data on whether patient treatment is a success. Since it does not, it cannot evidence that success/failures in treatments are the same for people sharing any of the protected characteristics. The last time anyone used a success measure was Florence Nightingale at the Crimea, where she counted patients as - relieved, unrelieved or dead.
Read more in this research report on how the NHS is failing to meet its legal duties on equality and how there is a lack of clarity across officials and government Board appointees on what they need to do to meet the general equality duty and deliver measurable equality.