The health and social care experiences of black and minority ethnic older people

Reducing health inequalities is an important government target. The National Service Framework for Older People (Department of Health, 2001) made specific references to improving the levels of service received by older people from minority ethnic groups, and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, places a duty on public bodies to outlaw racial discrimination and promote equal opportunities. Despite this, there is still evidence that ethnicity continues to play a part in influencing the quality of services that older people from black and minority ethnic groups receive. Much of the research reporting the experiences of older people from minority ethnic groups contains methodological limitations: most notably the failure to differentiate between older and younger participants within the same study, and the predominance of smaller-scale pieces of work. Older people themselves have ideas about how to achieve improvements and there is scope for better systems of engagement that will allow health and social care services to benefit from their expertise. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).