Citation

Aspinall PJ. Adv. Psychiatr. Treat. 2006; 12(2): 141-151.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Royal College of Psychiatrists)

DOI

10.1192/apt.12.2.141

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The quality, completeness and coverage of ethnicity data in mental health services has long been regarded as unsatisfactory. The Department of Health's new 5-year action plan for delivering race equality in mental healthcare seeks to improve this key building block by setting out actions to improve both the quality of information and its analysis and dissemination. However, those that are tangible and specific are few: annual surveys of service users, national censuses of mental health in-patients and tables of National Confidential Inquiry suicide cases and in-patient deaths by ethnicity. The opportunity to seek improvements in the quality and coverage of key routine data-sets such as ethnic monitoring in primary care and the Hospital Episode Statistics database has not been seized. Moreover, the plan does not mention proposed changes in civil registration (births and deaths) and the coroner service and their potential benefit. The continuing gaps in the information base justify a stronger emphasis on the processes necessary to bring about change rather than on what ethnic monitoring should provide.

Language: en

Keywords

human; information dissemination; government; counseling; racism; suicide; psychotherapy; clozapine; death; article; primary medical care; mental disease; prescription; neuroleptic agent; data base; health care delivery; population research; medical record; health care access; mental health service; ethnology; psychotropic agent; electroconvulsive therapy; national health service; drug fatality; medical specialist; information processing; olanzapine; ethnic difference; drug megadose; patient satisfaction; hospital care; sedative agent; medical information system; registration; clinical pathway