Black and minority ethnic mental health.
One in five mental health in-patients comes from a black and
minority ethnic (BME) background, compared to about one in ten of
the population as a whole. In January 2005, the Department of Health
published a five-year action plan, Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in
Mental Health Care. DRE aims to help mental health services provide
care that fully meets the needs of BME patients and build stronger
links with diverse communities.
About Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health.
Research shows that people from BME communities can suffer from
inequalities in access to mental health services, in their
experience of those services, and in the outcome of those services.
For example, BME patients are significantly more likely to be
detained compulsorily or diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The Department of Health, in conjunction with other key
stakeholders, is developing a comprehensive programme of work to
tackle those inequalities. An important part of the programme is
implementation of Delivering race equality in mental health care –
an action plan for reform inside and outside services (DRE). DRE was
published on 11 January 2005, along with the Government’s response
to the independent inquiry into the death of David Bennett.
The BME Mental Health Programme is an integral part of the
Department’s wider programme for race equality in the NHS.
Delivering Race Equality at a glance.
Delivering Race Equality in Mental Health Care (DRE) is a
comprehensive action plan for eliminating discrimination and
achieving equality in mental health care for all people of Black and
minority ethnic (BME) status.
Summary
DRE is based on three building blocks:
- More appropriate and responsive services - achieved through action
to improve mental health care for black and minority ethnic
patients, developing a more culturally capable workforce, and
finding new pathways to care and recovery.
- Community engagement - achieved by engaging communities in
planning services, and supported by 500 new community development
workers and the expertise of independent sector BME service
providers.
- Better information - from improved monitoring of ethnicity, better
dissemination of information and good practice, and by improving
knowledge about effective services. This includes the new regular
census of mental health patients covering their ethnicity, faith,
legal status and more.
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