The issue of disparity and inequalities between black and minority ethnic groups and the majority white population in rates of mental ill health and equality of service in terms of experience and outcomes has figured in government policy since Labour took office in 1997. The death of an African-Caribbean patient named David Bennett in a secure psychiatric unit whilst detained under the Mental Health Act (1983) and the subsequent inquiry report published in 2003 found the NHS to be “institutionally racist”. The report was unequivocal in its condemnation of the NHS for its failure to protect a patient in.
