UK Health Minister, Rosie Winterton, today launched the consultation paper: Delivering Race Equality: A Framework for Action. This will inform a 3-month consultation on how best to improve mental health services for Black and minority ethnic communities, which is to be supported by a dedicated online consultation weblog designed and built by Headshift, in cooperation with Prof. Kamlesh Patel OBE, Acting National Strategic Director of Mental Health and Ethnicity at NIMHE.

Currently:

• Black people constitute 30% of the patient group in medium secure services and 16% of high secure services.
• Black people are over six times more likely than the majority population to be detained under the Mental Health Act.
• Women born in India and East Africa have a 40% higher suicide rate than those born in England and Wales.

The Department of Health has been researching these issues to provide the framework and will work with the health service, voluntary groups and local communities to consult properly on how best to improve the provision of services to Black and minority ethnic communities; ensure that those communities are informed about and consulted on services and that they are willing and able to work in partnership with services.

By extending the traditional consultation process using a simple and accessible Weblog, NIMHE hope to ensure that all interested parties have an opportunity to provide structured feedback openly and transparently, whilst keeping track of developments via the regularly updated news, events and reports on the site, or by subscribing to a real-time XML-based syndication feed.

Click here to visit the site