Lord Victor Adebowale, chairman of the NHS Confederation, described the death of his 92-year-old mother as “undignified”.
Undated family handout photo of Lord Victor Adebowale’s mother, Grace, who died of cancer in January. (Picture: NHS ConfedExpo/PA)
But her cancer was not detected until after she died.
“I just think there are too many situations where people that look like me and shades of me don’t get the service,” he said.
“So it makes me clear about the need to address the inequity. I think she got a black service, not an NHS service.
He went on: “It is not acceptable that someone who looks like me, on average waits 20 minutes longer in A&E than white patients.
Mrs Adebowale emigrated from Nigeria to Scotland in the 1950s.
“She lived to the age of 92 and you may think, ‘well, she had the good old innings’, but for a lot of those years she was in some discomfort, and it looks like she died from cancer,” he told reporters.
“I used the phrase ‘black service’… you only have to look at the stats – across all the major disease categories that we talk about, black people have a worse experience and worse outcomes – we’ve known that for years, I’m not saying anything new.
“We’ve got a cancer programme, we’ve got a cancer we’ve had targets for diagnostics, and pathways, and yet, people like my mother…”
“What I’m talking about is a systemic problem exampled by what I have experienced a my mum, and I think she represents a lot of other mums out there and lots of other people out there.”
“I could have stood there and give you a load of stats, and you wouldn’t be talking to me.
He added: “The disproportionate poor services that too many poor people and too many black people experience, that’s what I’m sick of.”
“My sister described a hospital that was really struggling when she went in, she had to argue for mum to get a room.
He added: “We haven’t got to the bottom of it, and that’s why I’m not blaming anybody, and I don’t want to, but I can talk about my experience and my observation of what happened to my mum.
“It’s all part of the same story. I used to own story to illustrate a bigger problem, which is systemic.”
“That’s why we are working across the NHS to ensure that happens – from improving access to cancer diagnosis and treatment, to expanding health checks for black and Asian communities and increasing uptake of blood pressure and cholesterol medication in under-served groups.
With PA
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