Published today, the fifth annual “Count Me In” census, which monitors mental health in-patients in England and Wales, shows that people from BME communities continue to be over-represented in mental health hospitals.
The census finds that:
- 23% of in-patients in mental health services in 2010 belonged to BME groups, and that admission rates remain higher than average among some minority ethnic groups, especially Black and White/Black Mixed groups.
- Rates of detention under the Mental Health Act are significantly higher than average among the Black, White/Black Caribbean Mixed and Other White groups (but not in other ethnic groups), and that the rates for detained patients who were placed on a community treatment order (CTO) are higher among the south Asian and Black groups.
- Although there have been fluctuations in seclusion rates, they have generally been higher than average for the Black, White/Black Mixed and Other White groups. (Seclusion is the supervised confinement of a patient in a room, which may be locked to protect others from significant harm.)
Furthermore, the census reveals that 77% of women in-patients were not in a ward designated for single sex use in 2010.
The full report is due to be published at: http://www.cqc.org.uk/