Black service user experience at odds with WHO report
While undoubtedly music to the ears of health ministers, health experts working on the front line with ethnic minority groups are concerned that the finding do not tarry with the day to day experiences of many black service users.

WHO's findings in a report entitled, Policies and practices for mental health in Europe , was published the day after the funeral of former service user Sean Rigg, 40, who died just 91 minutes after being detained in police custody in August this year.

A talented musician, Rigg had produced two albums and had written a 'rap opera' which was scheduled to be staged in the West End later this year online news sources have reported.

The funeral which took place in St Mary's church, south London, was attended by hundreds of friends, colleagues and well wishers, many of whom were still reeling from the shock that a healthy man with a bright future and so much to live for, has had his life tragically cut short.

An inquest into Rigg's death preliminary findings of a post mortem showed no cause of death.  Riggs family are looking to the IPCC to treat this as a suspicious death

An IPPC report published just last month condemned the use of police cells as places of safety  and yet an estimated 11,500 people were detained in police custody as a place of safety in 2005 and 2006, compared with about 5,900 people in a hospital environment the report states.

Even more disturbingly the report again brings to light the absence of any training given to police officers who are often not equipped to recognise when a vulnerable mental health may be in crisis. The Forum for Death's in custody report published in December last year showed showing a 40% increase in the deaths of people detained under the Mental Health Act.

 Bennett inquiry etched in the black British psyce

In a year which marks the 10^th anniversary of the tragic death of David Bennett, who died while detained in psychiatric care  Rigg's untimely death has re-opened deep scars within the community which have been caused by the trauma of the loss of a loved using mental health services.

With the punitive treatment and tragic demise of David Bennett,  still keenly etched in the psyce of the Black community in the UK, last week's funeral of yet another young black service user, has meant that the good practice identified in the WHO report has yet to be enjoyed by this group.

There is a consensus, that great improvements need to be made in the way services treat black patients, before the African Caribbean experience  of the services can concur with this report.

Responding to the findings, in this new report, the Health Secretary Alan Johnson, said: ‘WHO has recognised the transformation in mental health care in England over the last ten years. Our level of investment in mental health has risen to one of the highest in Europe and we now have over 700 teams providing innovative community based services as instead of treating people in hospital. The outdated and pernicious concept of "the asylum" is over but our commitment to improving services further is undiminished.'

African Caribben patients treated harshly by mental health services

However experts on the ground have seen that many services are not equipped to deal sensitively with  patients from African Caribbean communities.

 ‘With all the work and money that has been put in to address stigma, black people who use the services are still people not being treated as they have the same rights as other people.  The police feel the need to be harsher with people who have mental illness.

When someone is relapsing they may well tend to revert to a defensive mode as the history of mental health services means that for black men especially they have very dark memories of the being sectioned and harsh and often punitive  treatment that accompanies detention in hospital,' a health expert from the community, who has chosen to remain unnamed told Black Mental Health UK

However Matt Muijen, Regional Adviser for Mental Health, WHO Europe, said: ‘the ambition and pace of change in England have been remarkable over the last 10 years, and mental health services here are increasingly being seen across Europe as a model to follow.'

Mental Health needs to be on a par with psysical heath
Health charities are concerned that investment should not be confused with outcomes, and the need to ensure that mental health services are brought up to the same standards seen in other parts of the NHS.

"Measuring your progress on mental health services in England by looking at other countries with different systems is like comparing London Transport to buses in Calcutta; it doesn't really tell us much about how our own progress. It's far more helpful to compare our record on mental health with our progress on physical health. And when you do that, you realise mental health is lagging way behind.

 Someone with cancer will have ten times as much spent on their treatment and care as somebody with a mental health condition.' Paul Jenkins, Chief Executive of the mental health charity RETHINK said.

A number of reports published in this year alone has shown that there is clear evidence that mental health wards are shabbier and more overcrowded and waiting lists for mental health treatment are often longer. Indeed, the Mental Health Act commission's 12th biannual report published earlier this year revealed that in 37% of acute wards in London are overcrowded and  currently have more patients than beds.

Click here to readPolicies and practices for mental health in Europe report by WHO (World Health Organisation)

- Health Act Commission,  12^th Biannual report, entitled  Risks, Rights and Recovery.

  - IPCC report condemns police cells as places of safety