To wonder why NHS 111 asks about ethnicity

[Blue4ever]

As one of their first screening questions?

Am I the only one who is getting slightly fed up with being asked about my ethnic background?

Some illnesses are more prevalent in certain ethnicities

There are many conditions which affect people of certain ethnicity more than others, such as sickle cell anaemia. So it helps their algorithm give a clearer diagnosis.

Also, they may use the information to gain a clearer picture of who is using the service, so that if a particular ethnic group is not using it, they might do an awareness campaign, targeting that group.

It's relevant for health questions.There are conditions which predominantly affect people of one ethnicity like sickle cell anemia. It's also useful for monitoring the equality of service provided and health monitoring to see if some ethnicities are being disproportionately affected by certain problems or are under/over represented in terms of service use.

YABU. Just refuse the question if you want.

YABU, diseases and health conditions can be more prevalent in different ethnic groups. It's a very valid question.

If its one of the first questions then YANBU. Its relevant for some health problems, but didnt used to be one of the first things they asked you.
In the current climate I'm not surprised its upsetting either.

Do you call 111 a lot ? Most people wouldnt even question this but you said you were sick of it . Like Pp said it is a standard question that you can answer or not

It mainly for data collection purposes. The NHS collect information about people who use their services to help inform how they commission those services.

It was the first time I called NHS 111 but I have called NHs direct years ago and I cannot remember that question being asked then. The question is asked when registering for courses provided by local authorities, registering with childcare providers, schools, dentists, other local services such as local business support, etc.

There are loads of other indicators for health, such as (the most obvious one) do you suffer from a ongoing medical condition such as asthma, diabetes, etc. That would be much more helpful to a health service on the phone than asking for ethnicity.

I rang for ds today, and wasn't asked this - is it asked every time?

YABU. You are accessing FREE health care. You do not have to answer this question. Stop moaning and suck it up. Getting sooo pissed off with all the attitude towards the NHS and health care workers. If you don't like it, go private

Ethnicity questions are usually for stats purposes you honestly don"t have no answer them

I agree OP. I find the constant asking of ethnicity everywhere annoying and I always refuse it. Take a look at the categories, anyway. They're meaningless. Race is a man-made construct and the descriptions are arbitrary and laughable.

You have 'white' which is a colour, you have 'Chinese' which is a country. You have 'Asian', which is a frigging continent. Black is split into black African or black Caribbean (so a colour but also geographical area). I've also seen Black British on these forms. How is that a race? If a black british person moved to America and took citezenship, does that mean their race has suddenly changed? You can be 'mixed', but there are loads of combinations of 'mixed'. Oh and a new one I've seen is Irish travellers in a category of their own. They're not white anymore apparently. I could go on

Or they could simply ask if our family income is above or below the poverty line, that would be a cracking set of data. But is that too politics sensitive, so they ask for ethnicity instead...

And also did I get this wrong, is the nhs free or do we all pay for it through taxes? Free?

They have an idea of your family income, and other measures of deprivation, based on your postcode.