Census aims to tackle NHS racism

An inquiry said David Bennett's death was "totally unnecessary"

Mental health hospitals in England and Wales are being asked to record the ethnicity of users in a drive to make these NHS services more equitable.

The government pledged to "eradicate discrimination" in NHS mental health care after a damning report into the death of patient David Bennett in 1998.

The census will provide a snapshot of service use and a benchmark against which to measure future improvements.

It is the first of its kind and is being run by the Healthcare Commission.

Institutional racism

Currently, it is not clear which groups of people access different types of mental health care.

Experts estimate black people are three to 10 times more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic but less likely to be diagnosed with depression.

It will give us a much clearer picture so we look at how things are today and work towards improvement Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health spokesman

They are also more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA) and to be given medication rather than "talking" therapies.

Mental health patient David 'Rocky' Bennett died in 1998 after being restrained at a Norfolk clinic.

The inquiry into his death said there was "institutional racism" in the NHS.

The ethnicity of about 50,000 patients - all inpatients in NHS and independent mental health facilities in England and Wales on 31 March - will be recorded.

In January, the government set out a five-year action plan to tackle discrimination in mental health services for all people of black and minority ethnic status.

Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, said: "Currently, poor monitoring of ethnicity means that healthcare providers are not always getting it right when it comes to this patient group."

'Long-standing problems'

Professor Kamlesh Patel, chairman of the Mental Health Act Commission and a commissioner at the Healthcare Commission, said mental health service providers needed to show how they were catering for the needs of black and ethnic minority groups.

"By taking part in the census, service providers will make a positive step towards developing culturally relevant and appropriate services."

Professor Louis Appleby, the NHS's national director for mental health, said: "We welcome this as an essential part of our aim to eliminate inequalities in what services provide and, in particular, in ending the disproportionate use of the MHA in young black patients."

The mental health charity Mind welcomed the census, but said its primary concern was how the information would contribute to improving "the long-standing problems faced by the sorely neglected black and ethnic minority service users".

A spokesman from the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health described the census as "essential", adding there was still "such unequal treatment of black and ethnic minority people in mental health services and the NHS as a whole".

Rethink chief executive Cliff Prior called the census "an important landmark for mental health care in Britain".