Count Me In Census 2010

The launch of the final Count Me In Census report, has been met with calls for a renewed commitment to address the stark inequalities in treatment black people in need of mental health care.

Black Mental Health UK says, 'this sixth and final national census report, published last week shows that there has been no improvement in the deplorable differences in admission, detention or seclusion rate of black people who are detained under the Mental Health Act'.

Although numbers of people who are entering the mental health system has fallen since 2005, BMHUK adds that 'there have been no improvements in the treatment and care of the UK’s African Caribbean communities who come in contact with the services. And that the findings of the ‘Count Me In 2010’ are a clear indication of the failure of the services to meet the needs of ethnic minority and black patients in particular'.

This report marks the final part of the five year strategy entitled Delivering Race Equality (DRE). DRE was launched in 2005 in response to the David Bennett Inquiry report into the death of an African Caribbean patient who died after he was restrained by five nurses. 

The DRE programme was launched with a commitment to reduce the numbers of black people who are sectioned under the Mental Health Act. There was also a pledge to improve the support of community based services and a commitment to cut down on the reliance on the use of seclusion, control and restraint for this group and prevent the tragedy of the Bennett case from occurring again.

Black Mental Health UK say that efforts to address these inequalities need to be redoubled as this final publication comes just days after  29-year-old Kingsley Brown Burrell, a young African Caribbean man died after he was restrained while he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

"The need to improve the treatment of black patients was recognised, through the DRE programme. The death of Kingsley Burrell Brown last week shows that improvements have not been made.  There needs to be a redoubling of efforts and a commitment at the highest levels of government to see these inequalities addressed, because this is not a problem that will not go away by itself." Said Matilda MacAttram director of Black Mental Health UK.

Archdeacon Daniel Kajumba, Chair of committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns added; "This census report is most disappointing; it shows we need an ever greater to commitment in this area and a real programme of change.  The death of yet another young man, just last week shows us that time is of the essence here. The injustices that we are seeing in the system should not be allowed to continue to prevail."