A WELSH Government plan to tackle racism will address information gaps around the impact of mental health among ethnic minorities, a top doctor has said.
Figures produced for Gwent’s Aneurin Bevan University Health Board have shown 64 per cent of people confirmed or suspected to have died by suicide were from the white ethnic group with the remainder either not known or not recorded.
But Dr Liz Andrew, consultant clinical psychologist for the NHS body, said it is hoped it will have better information about other backgrounds as a result of the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan introduced by the Welsh Government in response to the Black Lives Matter wave of global protests in 2020.
Dr Andrews was briefing members of Monmouthshire County Council on the board’s mental health services when Labour councillor for Chepstow Castle and Larkfield, Dale Rooke, asked why it hadn’t recorded the ethnicity of the remaining 36 per cent of confirmed or suspected suicide deaths.
“Surely as a proportion of the population they are much higher,” said Cllr Rooke. The black, Asian and minority ethnic population of most Gwent boroughs is around two per cent or less, though the figure is 14.1 per cent in Newport.
Dr Andrews said the board was also “curious and a bit perturbed” at the lack of accurate information but said it could also be due it having moved to a different recording system though it is also hoped the Welsh Government’s policy will help.
“It will be addressed by the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. I think there has been some discomfort around asking about ethnicity and these figures are from 2021 the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan is changing that and we are doing some internal training.
“I think people who have white privilege feel uncomfortable asking about that particularly when someone isn’t clearly from a minority ethnic group and we are addressing that through mandatory training.”
The Aneurin Bevan board also has a mental health worker in Newport, which Dr Andrews said has “lots of refugees and asylum seekers”, from a minority ethnic group who “works in a very different way and follows what is good practice to access black and minority ethnic communities”.
She gave examples of using different language and asking people to attend appointments in different settings, rather than mental health facilities, due to stigma.
“There is an uptake in well-being services in that area,” said Dr Andrews who also said the board is aware of the issue around data and said: “I think it has improved already.”