Introducing the Ethnicity Identification and Coding System (EICS™): A Community-Built Solution to a National Problem

As part of my non-profit patient organisation, The Nerve of My Multiple Sclerosis CIC, and through our research arm, the Black Brain Health Initiative, we have spent the past two years quietly carrying out detailed, evidence-based work behind the scenes.

Alongside gathering vital insight from our health surveys to understand the lived experiences of Black people with multiple sclerosis, we have also been examining the deep structural issues within the UK’s ethnicity data system.

And the truth is this:

For decades, major organisations have been raising the same concerns.

Organisations repeatedly highlighting the failures include:

NHS England

Office for National Statistics (ONS)

NHS Race & Health Observatory

Race Equality Foundation

Nuffield Trust

UK Health Data Research Alliance Health Data Research UK (HDR UK)

Genomics England

The King's Fund

Centre for Culture, Equity & Health (CEH)

and many more.

Key publications reinforcing these failures:

• Ethnicity Coding in Health Records (2020)

• NHS Ethnicity Recording Improvement Plan (2023–24)

• Exploring Ethnicity Data Use & Gaps in Health Care (Race Equality Foundation, 2025)

Across every report, the issues were identical:

🔸 outdated categories

🔸 high levels of “Unknown” and “Not Stated”

🔸 missing or erased ethnicities

🔸 mixed heritage forced into one box

🔸 GP and hospital systems not aligned

🔸 Inaccurate coding is harming research

🔸 health inequalities hidden

🔸 data analysts forced to clean unreliable data repeatedly

At some point, after reading the same problems over and over again, talking was no longer enough.

It was time to build.

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⭐ The Ethnicity Identification and Coding System (EICS™)

EICS™ is a modern, flexible, multi-level, multi-select ethnicity coding framework designed for today’s UK population.

It reflects real identity, allows new identities to be added easily, and addresses every major failure identified in national reports.

EICS™ has been:

✨ Tested on thousands of Black participants

✨ Benchmarked against national policy failures

✨ Designed around multi-select functionality

✨ Built using clear, colour-coded visual logic

✨ Developed with a working prototype

✨ Designed for ALL ethnicities

This is no longer an idea.

It is a developing national standard and a lifeline to ALL communities in the UK , especially the communities vulnerable to health inequalities.

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⭐ Why EICS™ Is Needed

EICS™ directly replaces what national reports have described as “no longer fit for purpose”:

✔ Multi-select instead of restricted single-choice

✔ Specific granularity for African, Caribbean, Asian, Mixed & diaspora groups

✔ R1 → R2 → R3 structure bringing clarity and precision

✔ Significantly reduced “Unknown” and “Other”

✔ Consistency across NHS primary and secondary care

✔ Expandable categories that grow with communities

✔ Clear terminology for researchers and public health teams

Countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand already use multi-select ethnicity effectively.

EICS™ introduces a UK-specific version of this modern, inclusive standard.

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⭐ How EICS™ Fixes the Problems Identified in National Reports

1️⃣ Inconsistent categories across GP, hospital and census systems

➡️ EICS™ creates one unified, structured standard.

2️⃣ High levels of “Unknown” and “Other”

➡️ EICS™ reduces this with clear categories and multi-select options.

3️⃣ Broad categories like “Black African” hide inequalities

➡️ EICS™ replaces this with Ghanaian, Nigerian, Somali, Ethiopian, etc.

4️⃣ Mixed-heritage people are forced into a single box

➡️ EICS™ captures ALL identities through multi-select.

5️⃣ Missing or erased identities

➡️ EICS™ allows new identities to be added easily.

6️⃣ Analysts must repeatedly clean and recode data

➡️ EICS™ is clean, structured and ready for analysis.

EICS™ fixes everything the reports said is broken.

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⭐ Why We Need Your Participation

We are now testing a wider public prototype of EICS™.

The prototype allows you to:

✔ Select all ethnicities that apply to you

✔ Tell us whether something is missing or if you don’t see any ethnicity that represents you.

✔ Help shape a system designed for REAL identity

🔒 No personal details are collected; it’s completely anonymous

(The prototype was created in Canva AI and is embedded in our research surveys.

We have already tested EICS™ with thousands of Black respondents.

We are now opening testing to all ethnicities across the UK.

If your identity is missing, please tell us — we will add it.

That is how modern, living, community-driven coding works.

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⭐ Removing Barriers for Community Groups

National reports state that smaller VCSE organisations face barriers such as:

• licensing restrictions

• high costs

• technical complexity

• lack of access to data tools

EICS™ directly removes those barriers:

✔ low-cost access promised for small VCSE community groups

✔ Simple design for minimal-tech users

✔ Clear, colour-coded interface (optional)

✔ Affordable licensing for larger institutions

So if decision-makers reject EICS™, they must provide a clear, evidence-based explanation — because the usual barriers have a clear potential pathway to being removed.

This is not just a technical innovation.

It is an advocacy tool that exposes where inequality has been hidden.

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⭐ Collaboration and Next Steps

If your organisation works in:

• NHS digital

• health inequalities

• data quality improvement

• population health

• public health research

• EPR or coding systems

…and you want to explore EICS™, we welcome you.

We believe in the Ethnicity Identification and Coding System (EICS™).

We believe in its potential impact.

Real change begins when communities build the solutions they need.