THE Irish in Britain organisation will be lobbying Britain’s next Government on the major health issues affecting the community here.
The group has stressed the importance of the forthcoming May 7 election as a means of tackling the healthcare concerns, such as high rates of heart disease, cancer and Dementia, facing Irish people in Britain.
As Irish in Britain released an open letter to its members its Chair Dr Mary Tilki told The Irish Post: “We will be lobbying the winning party or coalition of parties about the health disadvantage experienced by the Irish community.”
The organisation’s aim is to ensure that Irish ethnicity data is recognised separately to the overall White category in the Census so that Government strategies can take into account the high levels of cancer, cardiovascular disease and Dementia that exist in the Irish community.
The hope is that this will enable improved monitoring services in the NHS to increase cancer survival, reduce cardiovascular disease and increase dementia diagnosis.
Dementia, in particular, has been the focus for Irish in Britain during the Conservative’s term in coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
In a 2013 report ‘Dementia Does Not Discriminate’, an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia said: “As a non-visible minority, the needs of the Irish community are often overlooked by policy-makers and service providers.”
It is believed that Irish people in Britain suffer acutely because of their age distribution.
According to the 2011 Census, the aver- age age of an Irish-born person living in Britain is 61, while the average of some- one of White Irish ethnicity is 53.
Both figures significantly outstrip the average age of people from all other large migrant and ethnic groups.
In a bid to raise awareness of this, a recent joint campaign between the Irish in Britain and The Irish Post enabled a group of 50 volunteers to go into the Irish community across Britain earlier this year to provide Dementia-friendly services to those in need.
How the main political parties have addressed healthcare in their election manifestos...
CONSERVATIVES
■ 8,000 more doctors and 6,000 more nurses
■ Access for all to a GP seven days a week by 2020
■Launch a new Cancer Drugs Fund
LABOUR
■ A new right to access talking therapies enshrined in the NHS Constitution
■ GP appointment within 48 hours guaranteed
■ 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 more GPs recruited funded by a tax on properties worth £2million or more
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
■ £3.5bn will be spent on mental health care for adults and children in England
■£250msetasidefromtheprofitsof the sale of redundant NHS assets to fund new health technologies
■ Hire 150,000 more nurses and 38,000 more GPs than Labour.
UKIP
■ Ensure visitors to Britain, and migrants until they have paid NI for five years, have NHS-approved private health insurance as a condition of entry, saving the NHS £2bn annually
■ Spend £200m of the £2bn saving to end hospital car parking charges in England
■ Opposes the sale of NHS data to third parties
GREEN PARTY
■ Fight for a publicly funded, publicly provided free healthcare service
■ End the creeping privatisation of the NHS and repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
■ Prioritise mental health
SNP
■ An injection of £826million into the health revenue budget to improve healthcare in Scotland
■ Focus on shorter waiting times - aims to deliver an 18 week referral to treatment standard
■ Prioritise cleaner and safer hospitals, with a new watchdog set up
■ Create more flexible access so that services reflect the realities of family and working life
PLAID CYMRU
■ 1,000 more doctors in Wales and faster GP appointments
■ Prevent the privatisation of the NHS
■ Improve mental health care and create wider help and understanding of mental health issues
■ Increase help at home for chronically ill people
