THE death of a Merseyside man has been highlighted in a report tackling racial inequality in the health service.

New guidance has been issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to stop ethnic minorities struggling to get the right treatment.

The regulator’s report includes evidence from Michelle Cox, who is head of diversity at Liverpool Primary Care Trust.

It details her father Ernest’s battle with cancer.

Ms Cox says her father’s medical treatment was disrupted by a misunderstanding of his cultural background in Barbados.

She said GPs failed to properly investigate bruising on the Lydiate man’s body because the marks were less visible on dark skin.

Ms Cox wrote: “Each time he visited the GP, he got the same diagnosis: chilblains. “Soon, he was complaining of pain in his whole body. He was losing weight and gradually became immobile, not able to move from his chair, even to go to bed at night. He felt that the GP was not able to see his bruises.”

In desperation, her father, then in his 80s, bought some leeches to suck out the “bad blood” from his body.