This report comes at a time when the government is attempting to push through emergency changes to the Mental Health Act to make it easier for a patient to be sectioned, in an event of a second wave of swine flu.

This new data shows that less than half of those surveyed, (45%) feel safe  a hospital ward at all times. 39% said that they felt some of the time and 16% saying that they did not feel safe at all.

While welcoming this ground breaking new data race equality groups have voiced concern over these finding as people from African Caribbean backgrounds continue to be over represented in these settings.

Findings for the latest Mental Health Bulletin published by The Information Centre has revealed that detention rates for black women proportionally, far outstrip that of any other group.  This have raised the alarm among equalities group, concerned that many vulnerable women from African Caribbean communities are being locked up on  where they may actually be  being traumatised.

Currently detention rates under the Mental Health Act is more than 44% higher for black people than that of their white counterparts, with black women suffering the greatest numbers of detentions under mental health law

‘You can almost know which group will feel unsafe on the wards. Our service is aware of black women who have been sexually abused on the wards and these are not isolated cases.
For a long time we have focused on black men and quite rightly so because of the over representation but this has meant that we have taken our eye of the ball where black women are concerned,' Alicia Spence said.

QCQ pledged that those using the services are heard

Published today by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the (new) independent regulator of all health and adult social care in England, this latest survey details the views of over 7,500 people on each stage of their care from the moment they were admitted to hospital to the support they got after they left. 

‘As the care services regulator, we have pledged to ensure that the voices of everyone who uses care services are heard.  This survey gets to the heart of what it means to provide care that meets people's individual needs,' Barbara Young, CQC Chairman, said.

Addressing individual patient needs is also an area of concern within inpatient care, 35%  of those surveyed reported that  there was very little to do, with this figure going up to 54% during evenings and weekends. Last year the government announcement that talking therapies would be rolled out in 32 Primary Care Trusts with an instalment of £33million announced for by former Health secretary Alan Johnson on World Mental Health Day in 2007.

Short comings reported over communications

Disturbingly almost a third (27%) of patients sectioned are not being given any explanation about their rights in any way.  This failure has also spilled over into aspects of patient care with almost half(48%) saying that the potential side effects of medicines that were prescribed to them while in hospital were not explained in a way that they could understand.

‘It is not acceptable for people to feel unsafe in hospital or for them not to be to given basic information about their care and treatment. All trusts must provide a therapeutic environment in which patients can feel safe and recover. A therapeutic environment must include adequate access to activities and talking therapies,' Barbara Young  said.

The House of Commons ‘Health Inequalities' select committee reported earlier this year that  the health needs of mental health patients are almost entirely ignored by specialist mental health services, and while this new QCQ survey  shows that 88% reported having a physical health check, just 44% felt that their health condition had been definitely taken care of.

The amount of time patients were given to discuss their health conditions with psychiatrists  is also an area which needs  to be addressed with 50% saying that more health professionals needed to spend more time explaining details of their care to patients.

‘Being detained under the mental health act can be a very scary experience, and once you are in hospital you really want to know what the doctors and nurses are thinking and how long it will be before you are allowed out of there - so I think this research is very accurate because half the time you are not told what is going on,' a community activist and service users from the community who has chosen to remain unnamed told Black Mental Health UK.

Survey shows that there is considerable room for improvement

Commenting on the survey the QCQ chair, Barbara Young said: This survey shows us that there is considerable room for improvement in patients' experiences of acute inpatient mental health services.'

A total of 64 trusts were covered by the survey including combined mental health and social care trusts, and foundation trusts and primary care trusts that provide acute mental health hospital inpatient services.

The results from CQC surveys are used by NHS trusts to help them understand and improve their performance.

The Commission has also used the results from each trust in this survey in its annual assessment of their performance (the annual health check for 2008-09) which will be published on 15 October.