Exclusive: ‘Huge landscape’ of partiality is negatively affecting female and ethnic minority patients, says Dr Henrietta Hughes
Deeply ingrained medical misogyny and racial biases are routinely putting people in need of treatment at risk, the government’s patient safety commissioner in England has warned.
Dr Henrietta Hughes was appointed in 2022 in response to a series of scandals in women’s health. She outlined a “huge landscape” of biases in need of levelling, citing examples ranging from neonatal assessment tools and pulse oximeters that work less well for darker skin tones to heart valves, mesh implants and replacement hip joints that were not designed with female patients in mind.
