British Caribbean Doctors and Dentists’ Association (BCDD) is a network of medical/dental students, doctors and dentists of Caribbean origin, which was created with the intention of bringing together like-minded individuals, to support each other through training, celebrate our culture and to raise aspirations of young Caribbean’s in the UK, in order to increase representation within medicine.

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2020-2023 IMPACT REPORT

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE

LACK OF REPRESENTATION OF CARIBBEANS IN MEDICAL AND DENTAL SCHOOLS

Black Caribbean students have a poor educational attainment in comparison to white students and even their African counterparts. Just 3.5% are expected to achieve Grade A or above in 3 subjects at A-Level. In 2019 only 45% of Black students secured a higher education place. This has the knock-on effect of limiting their access to medicine.

Across the 33 medical schools in the UK only 238 were registered as Black Caribbean (compared to 23,376 white students in 2017/18).

ETHNIC INEQUALITIES IN HEALTH OUTCOMES

Ethnic minorities have an increased risk of poor health due to inequalities in access to secondary health care and dental care. In addition, Black Caribbeans are almost 2 times more likely to report poor health compared to White British people, with this increasing with age.

These inequalities cannot be explained by genetics alone and are related to racism, bias and socio-economic factors.

LACK OF HEALTH LITERACY WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY

Black Caribbean people are disengaging from medical services largely due to the mistrust of healthcare professionals. They report a poorer experience with primary care, which has detrimental effects on the benefits of early diagnosis and treatment of illness; as well as poor control of pre-existing illnesses.

LACK OF REPRESENTATION OF CARIBBEAN DOCTORS IN SENIOR POSITIONS IN MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY

Doctors from Black and Mixed ethnic groups make up a higher percentage of doctors at staff grade (the most junior of the senior grades) than they do the other senior grades. There is a lack of career guidance and support to increase representation in senior positions.

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