Improving mental healthcare for ethnic minorities

Mental health services are developed to cater for the dominant economic or cultural group. In practice this means that ethnic minorities do not receive equitable care. In the UK, disparities in rates of illness, access to care, outcome and satisfaction with services have been reported (Sashidharan, 2003). However, more often than not such disparities are not measured and ethnic minorities suffer in silence. The problems faced are different for different ethnic groups. This reflects differences in culture, socio-economic status and how they fit within the dominant society (Sashidharan, 2003). However, there are some similarities due to the generally lower socio-economic status of ethnic minority groups, varying degrees of social isolation, acculturation, the impact of migration, and differences in illness models between groups and the services. Clearly, specific analysis is needed for each ethnic minority group if service development is to be effectively targeted. Here, I will use the situation of mental health services in England as a case study highlighting an approach to service development. The structure of this article follows the stages that may be appropriate for service re-engineering: