Winterton: Delayed response

The government has published its long awaited response to the inquiry into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett.

Health minister Rosie Winterton pledged improved care for black and minority ethnic (BME) people with mental health problems under the new blueprint.

Jamaican-born Bennett died controversially in 1998 while being restrained in a psychiatric ward.

The Blofeld inquiry, which reported last year, found that the Department of Health suffered from "institutional racism" in its treatment of psychiatric patients.

Originally due last May, Winterton delivered the government's response on Tuesday.

Under the new plans, NHS trusts will be assessed by the Healthcare Commission on their performance in "challenging discrimination and providing equality of access".

There will also be a new commitment to reduce the disproportionate rates of compulsory detention of black and ethnic minority mental health patients and preventing deaths in mental health services following physical intervention.

Workers in the health and social services sectors will also see a new emphasis on delivering "equitable care to black and minority ethnic populations" with better race equality training.

'Circle of fear'

Winterton said ministers and professionals "know what the problems are".

"There are significant and unacceptable inequalities in the access to mental health services that black and minority ethnic patients have, in their experience of those services, and in the outcome of those services," she said.

"Rates of compulsory admission are significantly higher for black and minority ethnic groups.

"Average lengths of stay in hospital are longer. BME patients are more likely than white people to be prescribed drugs or ECT rather than psychotherapy or counselling.

"All this fuels the 'circle of fear' that can deter BME patients from seeking early treatment for their illness."

She added that there had been some progress "but not enough".

"Now we have a clear and comprehensive action plan for making sure that progress continues and accelerates," Winterton said.

It is hoped that by 2010 there will have been a reduction in the disproportionate rates of admission and compulsory detention of BME patients.

"Racism, discrimination, or inequalities have no place in modern society, and they certainly have no place in the modern NHS," said the minister.

"David Bennett's death stands as a tragic reminder of what can happen if the service fails to meet the needs of its black and minority ethnic patients.

"Change might not come overnight, but we are offering a way forward to equity for all in mental health care."

Radical reform

Helen Shaw, co-director of campaign group Inquest, said the government should seize the opportunity to "radically reform the delivery of mental health services to people from black and minority ethnic communities".

"It also has the chance to stop the practice of using physical force as the first response to violence and to confront the currently inadequate response to staff and patient racism within mental health settings," she said.

"But it should not take violent death to precipitate such change and it remains to be seen what will really happen at the point of service delivery – these issues are not new and no fundamental change has taken place in the six years since Rocky Bennett died."

Shaw warned that there was still no standard policy on the use of restraint across all mental health and other custodial settings.

"The opportunity has been missed to ensure the use of dangerous prone restraint techniques that have contributed to many of the deaths in custody that have caused most public concern is properly regulated," she added.