[WiLT] Fw: Ethnicity and Use of the Mental Health Act Conference / 24th May 2010 / London Conference

[WiL Admin]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "EHI" <bookings at bme-mentalhealth.org.uk>
Subject: Ethnicity and Use of the Mental Health Act Conference / 24th May 2010 /
London Conference


http://www.bme-mentalhealth.org.uk/

Ethnicity and Use of the Mental Health Act
24th May 2010 / London Conference

The latest data published on use of the Mental Health Act in England
for 2008 / 2009 from the Mental Health Minimum Data Set shows that the
rates of detention via the Mental Health Act have increased steeply
(The NHS Information Office 2009). This report shows that 31.8% of
service users receiving care on inpatient units were detained under
the Mental Health Act. This is a greater number than in previous
years. The data also showed that 53.8% of the “Black” and “Black
British” group who were inpatients, spent some time detained
compulsorily in comparison to 31.8% overall. The over representation
of certain Black and Minority Ethnic Groups within inpatient services
is not new.

The results of the 2009 “Count Me In” Census have also just been
published (Care Quality Commission 2010). The Census found that 22% of
all patients were from minority ethnic groups compared to 20% for the
2005 Census, possibly reflecting the changing population of the UK.
The rates of individuals subject to the Mental Health Act were higher
than average for some groups namely the Black Caribbean, Black
African, Other Black and White / Black Caribbean Mixed and Other White
Groups. The rates of people from Other Black and Black Caribbean
groups detained under Section 37/41 has remained higher than average
for the last five years. The rates of admission or detention have not
reduced since 2005 for Black and minority ethnic groups.

This one day event will focus on the exploration of the following
questions:
• How should we interpret these findings?
• Is racism the main issue behind the fact that some BME groups are
over represented in terms of admission and detention rates and also
the increased use of certain diagnostic categories such as
schizophrenia?
• Should we be focusing on understanding and learning why certain
BME groups are not over represented?
• Have the changes to the Mental Health Act been detrimental or
helpful? To whom?
• What alternatives are available and seen as useful to people from
BME communities who have been, or who are currently at risk of being
detained?
• Where do the solutions lie? Should we be focusing on tackling
racism in society? Should we be making stronger efforts to address
institutional racism within mental health services?

Programme of the day
 9.00 - 9.30  Registration, Tea & Coffee
 9.30 - 9.45 Opening
 Melba Wilson OBE
 National Programme Lead, Mental Health Equalities, National Mental
Health Developement Unit, DOH
 9.45 - 10.00 Chair
 Professor Sashi Sashidharan
 Honorary Professor and Co-director of Centre for Research in
Ethnicity & Mental Health, Warwick Medical School, University of
Warwick
 10.00 - 10.50 Ethnicity and Psychiatric Detention: Racism, Attribution and
Help-seeking
 Professor Swaran Singh
 Professor of Social & Community Psychiatry, Health Sciences Research
Institute, University of Warwick
 10.50 - 11.40 Ethnic Variations in Mental Health Admissions: There’s More to
Race
Than Racism
 Professor Tom Burns
 Professor of Social Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University
of Oxfordk
 11.40 - 12.00 Morning session Q&A
 12.00 - 1.00 Lunch
 1.00 - 1.50 Ethnicity and the Impact of Mental Health Legislation
 Professor Chris Heginbotham OBE
 Deputy Head of International School for Communities, Rights and
Inclusion, Professor of Mental Health Policy and Management,
University of Central Lancashire
 1.50 - 2.40 Community Responses to Compulsion: From ‘Circles of Fear’ to
Cycles of Engagement
 Professor Philip Thomas
 Honorary visiting Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and
Humanities, University of Bradford
 2.40 - 3.00 Tea & Coffee
 3.00 - 3.50 Ethnicity and Outcome of Appeal After Detention Under the Mental
Health Act 1983
 Dr Ramin Nilforooshan
 Specialist Registrar in Neuropsychiatry, Scutari Clinic, Adamson
Centre, St Thomas’s Hospital
 3.50 - 4.10 Afternoon session Q&A
 4.10 - 4.30 Plenary, Closure & Evaluation sheets

 Who Should attend?

 This conference will be relevant to anyone in the field of mental
health and social care. Also, officers from local authorities and NHS
trusts across the UK, mental health professionals and practitioners,
including Approved Mental Health Professionals, charities, third
sector, educational establishments,the legal profession, academics and
policy makers. Limited free places are available to service users and
carers.

 Where?
 Friends House
 173 Euston Road
 London NW1 2BJ
 Tel: 020 7663 1094/1095
 www.friendshouse.co.uk

 Conference Booking
http://bme-mentalhealth.org.uk/userfiles/BME%20Conf%20Brochure%20May%202010.pdf

 Conference Brochure
http://www.bme-mentalhealth.org.uk/userfiles/BME%20Booking%20Form%20May%202010.pdf

 Conference Contact Ahmed Qureshi (conference co-ordinator),
tel. 07540 356 526 or email us on:bookings.bme at googlemail.com,
visit us on www.bme-mentalhealth.org.uk