Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what outcomes are expected from the refreshed Equality Delivery System in relation to reductions in inequalities among BME communities disproportionately affected by cancer.

The refreshed Equality Delivery System (EDS2) is a tool designed to support National Health Service organisations, in discussion with local partners, including local communities, to review and improve their equality performance for characteristics given protection under the Equality Act 2010, and to select equality objectives and priorities for the organisation’s next business period.

The equality objectives selected focus upon the most urgent challenges for the local NHS organisation. Indeed, if access to and experience of cancer services for local black, minority and ethnic (BME) communities, or cancer outcomes for the local BME communities, are the identified challenges, then these are likely to be the focus of the organisation’s equality objectives and their immediate plans.

EDS2 helps NHS organisations to recognise that every patient has different needs and circumstances, and that we can best meet those needs by delivering a personal form of care.

In helping to facilitate the development of local interventions and actions to tackle trends of health inequities, such as poorer cancer outcomes amongst some BME communities, EDS2 can contribute towards the reduction of health inequalities between diverse population groups.