- Conference
- 2024 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the pandemic emphasised the lack of appropriate personal care for Black women patients and service users especially in the area of hair care across health and social care system. This is an ongoing issue which started before the pandemic and has continued after the pandemic.
Family members would usually bring in hair products to use on their family who is a patient within the health and social care system. However, it was difficult to get to the shops to purchase these hair products during the pandemic.
The care inequalities were highlighted even more than usual during the pandemic. It was noticeable that health and social care staff avoided caring for the hair of Black women as they did not understand how to care for it and did not see the need to ask.
Conference applauds the work that Bath Unison Health branch has done on this issue. They have successfully worked in partnership with their employer to train healthcare staff to be more aware of the needs of Black patients especially women and girls; educating healthcare staff on how to care for the hair of women and girls in a dignified way appropriate to meet their own personal care requirements.
Equality of care has started to become “the norm” in that employer and the branch Black Members officer has played a huge part in pushing this agenda forward and providing ongoing support and guidance to the employer.
Consideration needs to be given as a matter of course for all patients’ and service users’ physical care, taking into account their cultural needs and diversity.
Conference calls upon the National Black members committee to work in partnership with National women’s committee, Community Service Group Executives, and health and social care branches to:
1) Raise awareness on how to provide equitable care to Black women and girls taking into consideration their cultural, religious and diverse needs.
2) Encourage Black Members officers to provide training and education for employers in providing equity of care for patients/clients with different cultural and diverse personal care needs.
3) Encourage employers to provide appropriate products for the care of Black patients/clients.
4) Encourage employers to include training in personal care of Black patients and service users for new staff at induction sessions and include this in induction procedures.