Courtesy DoH Examining the relationship between ethnicity and doctors is complex. Whilst many institutional barriers have been removed and much has improved, there are still areas that cause concern. Sir Liam Donaldson

In his Annual Report published 14 July, the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, called for a series of measures to tackle racism against GPs and doctors.

Using data from a number of sources, the report finds that ethnic minority doctors have suffered and continue to suffer discrimination when applying to medical school and throughout their careers.

"Historically, ethnic minority doctors have suffered notable discrimination when applying to medical school and throughout their careers. "

The report shows that doctors born outside the UK – particularly in Africa – but who work here have higher mortality rates than their UK-born counterparts. It also finds that doctors from ethnic minorities are living in more deprived areas of the country.

Sir Liam then calls for a series of measures to combat these remaining concerns, including the establishment of a mentoring scheme for ethnic minority doctors; better training on equality and race awareness issues for selection panels; more support for doctors raising concerns about racial discrimination.

Sir Liam adds:

"Examining the relationship between ethnicity and doctors is complex. Whilst many institutional barriers have been removed and much has improved, there are still areas that cause concern. Addressing these issues will require cultural and behavioural change."

These findings follow on the heels of last week's American Medical Association report which found widespread racial discrimination against African American physicians who make up only 3 to 4 percent of all doctors, even though the 2000 U.S. Census, shows African Americans account for some 13 percent of the population.

Speaking to Reuters, Dr. Nelson Adams, president of the National Medical Association which represents African American physicians in the United States, said the NMA was founded in 1895 because of the AMA's discrimination. He added:

"Black doctors couldn't be members of the American Medical Association,"

"There are fewer African American physicians per capita to date than there were in 1910,"

Other matters examined in Sir Liam's report includes 'Making surgery safer'. The report says Surgery is generally very safe but has many inherent risks that are not always fully appreciated. The report highlights the nature of some of these risks and presents new data showing the National Patient Safety Agency received 129,416 reports of potential errors involving surgical procedures during 2007. Most errors do not result in harm or the risk is averted. Sir Liam also highlights 14 cases of burr holes being drilled on the wrong side of the head during brain surgery in the last three years.

Sir Liam argues that more attention needs to be given to reducing the impact of errors in surgery and suggests a number of measures including the establishment of a clinical board for surgical safety; routine use of the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist before, during and after the operation; more use of risk scores to estimate the risk to patients before the operation; regular collection and analysis of death rates 30 days after operations, which should be made available to the public.