Author's reply

Author's reply: Waheed and colleagues raise some important dilemmas in the debate on specialist services for ethnic minorities. We already have specialist services for many cultural groups in the voluntary sector and statutory sector. I agree that within the statutory sector, there would be insufficient funds to equip a large number of new specialist services in all parts of the country for all subcultural groups. Yet, we currently rely on just such an underfunded solution within the voluntary sector to plug gaps in psychiatric service provision. Specialist services may continue to exist in response to unmet need rather than by design.

There are some problems with the cultural consultation model. First, this solution is not novel, and was established in Bradford some two decades ago, only to be brought to an end due, I believe, to lack of funds for such a specialist service! The approach can be successful, but not because of the structure it imposes. Improvements in the quality of care will not be achieved by simply restructuring the services, as entrenched attitudes and skills deficits will simply be transferred into new services. All practitioners should have the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes for a modern multiculturally capable service. Who will be qualified to lead such a service, and what are the capabilities necessary for workers in such a service? Moodley (2002) addressed these issues for psychiatrists following development work by the Transcultural Special Interest Group within the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Irrespective of the service model, any service can respond to the needs of Black and minority groups only if the workforce is skilled and continues to acquire new knowledge and skills to work with new migrants. Motivating the workforce to acquire skills is essential, but current workloads, rapid changes in services and waves of new policy deter the acquisition of new skills and the development of innovative paradigms for service delivery. Until these issues are addressed, we rely heavily on specialist services that have managed to attract and motivate staff to be creative and tailor packages of care. A specific problem of the consultation model is that specialists are expected to be the fount of all wisdom on cultural issues, absolving the rest of the workforce from these responsibilities (Bhui et al, 2001). Furthermore, no single consultant can ever claim to be an expert on all cultures of the world. However, a consultant can reasonably be expected to communicate general principles, aptitude and methods in order to discover more about mental distress in the context of unfamiliar cultures using, for example, ethnographic approaches. Yet, those seeking advice from such a service must be able to change their practice. Business efficiency can work against improving the cultural capability of services and warrants more attention by purchasers and providers (see Bhui, 2002). Irrespective of the service model, organisational cultural capability, a motivated workforce and optimal learning conditions will diminish the need for specialist services, but not in the foreseeable future. In the meantime we can learn from these specialist services, but their existence is inevitable and necessary if the cultural capability of the NHS workforce does not improve.