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Travellers are the unhealthiest people in Britain

Researchers from the University of Bristol School for Policy Studies collated existing and new research to conclude that traditional and new age travellers are among the unhealthiest people in the country yet have little chance of accessing NHS services.

Delivering Health and Welfare Services to Gypsies and Travellers says that babies born to traveller families are 1.5-2 times more likely to die in their first year than those born to the rest of the population. They are more likely to suffer from general poor health, including chest infections, heart disease, accidents, and conditions linked to poor sanitation. In addition, travellers are often unable or unwilling to register with a general practitioner and so receive little health education and family planning.

Their position has been made worse by the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act, which removes the obligation on local authorities to provide safe and well serviced sites for travellers and makes it easier for authorities to evict those on unauthorised stopping places, the report concludes.

Report author Dr Derek Hawes says that the act has increased the barriers to better health and that action is needed urgently. "The most significant thing that can be done to improve travellers' health is to provide them with safe, well serviced stopping places with a sewage supply and proper water, but the NHS also needs to change," he said.

The report also recommends that purchasers' and general practitioners' annual reports, together with community care plans and other strategic planning documents, should set targets and strategies for improving travellers' access to healthcare resources.

View larger version (134K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Travellers often suffer from poor health

It also suggests that general practitioners receive a "positive financial incentive" to register itinerant patients and that all the care agencies--including the police, the NHS, and social and education services--should work closely in planning and implementing care for travellers.--CHRISTINA BUNCE, medical journalist, Cornwall

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Provision of taped conversations with neonatologists to mothers of babies in intensive care: randomised controlled trial

Tieh Hee Hai Guan Koh, Phyllis N Butow, Michael Coory, Donna Budge, Li-An Collie, John Whitehall, and Martin H Tattersall
BMJ 2007 334: 28. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Koh, T. H. H. G., Butow, P. N, Coory, M., Budge, D., Collie, L.-A., Whitehall, J., Tattersall, M. H (2007). Provision of taped conversations with neonatologists to mothers of babies in intensive care: randomised controlled trial. BMJ 334: 28-28 [Abstract] [Full text]  
• Koh, T H H G (1997). Prognosis for babies of less than 28 weeks' gestation. BMJ 314: 1048-1048 [Full text]