Setting up psychiatric services: cross-cultural issues in planning and delivery.

There is convincing evidence that in the UK, various ethnic minorities are over-represented in psychiatric hospitals, prisons and special hospitals. Various explanations have been put forward for this picture. The expanding emphasis on community care means that models for looking after ethnic communities should be innovative and work from a bottom-up approach. Psychiatric emphasis on clinical diagnoses means that services are developed according to the diagnoses rather than needs.