Institutionally racist mental health service

The inquiry into the death of David Bennett revealed an institutionally racist mental health service from which black and minority ethnic users were estranged. Now a new style of service is emerging, as Emma Forrest reports.

Key points
Black and minority ethnic patients are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and detained, more likely to receive high doses of medication and less likely to have access to talking therapies.

Input from voluntary organisations and monitoring staff attitudes are crucial factors in tackling the problem.

When the inquiry into the death of a young black psychiatric patient, David 'Rocky' Bennett, concluded over a year ago that mental health services are institutionally racist, it triggered a debate that shows no signs of abating.

While the government has declined to accept the Blofeld inquiry's suggestions of institutional racism, the recommendation that racism in the service needs to be eliminated has been acknowledged as an urgent necessity.

How to achieve that, though, is a matter of further debate. The national service framework for mental health, published in 2000, outlined plans to recruit 500 community development workers specifically to work with black and minority ethnic communities by the end of 2006.

Guidelines on reducing the often-shocking health inequalities experienced by these communities were published in 2003 and the programme of work being undertaken by the National Institute for Mental Health in England on the issue is the largest it has ever conducted.

This includes the first ethnic census of inpatients, set to become an annual event, which was first carried out on 31 March. This joint work with the Healthcare Commission will also see about 2,000 patients interviewed.

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HSJ, May, 2005