New services to be "hothouses of reform" in rooting out racism in mental health

April 4, 2005
by Adam James

Seventeen strategic health authorities across England have been asked by the government to lead the way in rooting out racial discrimination in mental health services.

The authorities are to be "hothouses of reform" and to pioneer best practice projects, Health Minister Rosie Winterton said.

Once established, the details of these 17 new anti-discriminatory projects will be spread to other mental health services across the NHS, said Ms Winterton.

The announcement came on the heels of the launch of the first census - called Count Me In - of mental health units to establish the extent of discrimination against black and minority ethnic patients throughout the NHS and private hospitals in England and Wales.

Health Commission inspectors will examine the ethnic and religious characteristics of all in-patients and their experience of seclusion or injury while on hospital premises.

The census, launched last week, followed allegations of institutional racism in mental health services made last year by Sir John Blofeld, a retired high court judge, after an investigation into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett.

Mr Bennett, a 38-year-old Jamaican-born Rastafarian, died in Norwich in 1998 after being held face down on the floor for 28 minutes by at least four mental health nurses.

The judge blamed the Department of Health for the poor standard of treatment, describing the problem as a "festering abscess" and a "blot on the good name of the NHS".

Ministers have acknowledged that people from black and minority ethnic communities were less likely to come forward voluntarily for mental health treatment, more likely to stay longer as inpatients and more likely to be prescribed medication or electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) instead of psychological treatment.

Sample surveys suggested young Afro-Caribbean men were between two and eight times more likely than their white contemporaries to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

The census is designed to establish more precise statistics.

In a action plan - entitled Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care - launched in January the government promised to reduce the disproportionate rates of admission, compulsory detention and seclusion of black and minority ethnic patients.

Ms Winterton said the 17 new anti-discriminatory projects will support the implementation of the five-year action plan.

She said: "Delivering Race Equality is a clear and comprehensive action plan for making sure that progress continues and accelerates.

"These sites are the next steps towards making it happen on the ground, and I hope that they will be a valuable source of best practice and support for the rest of the NHS."

The 17 strategic health authorities asked by the government to establish the non-discriminatory projects by the end of May are:

* Northumberland, Tyne & Wear
* West Yorkshire
* County Durham & Tees Valley
* South Yorkshire
* Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland
* Trent
* Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire
* South East London
* North East London
* North Central London
* North West London
* Hampshire & Isle of Wight
* Surrey & Sussex
* South West Peninsula
* Dorset & Somerset
* Birmingham & the Black Country
* Greater Manchester.

See also:
Jan 11, 2005: We'll cut rate that black and ethnic minority people are detained in psychiatric hospital, vow ministers - promise unveiled in government five-year anti-racist action plan for mental health services

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