WE’RE all different: and while on the one hand we want those differences to be recognised, on the other we all want to be treated the same. This conundrum is proving too much for some in health and social care, where diversity is causing problems.

A survey of more than 400 mental health service users by the Mental Health Act Commission, reported in Community Care (Nov 16), found that people from ethnic minorities are more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. They are also more likely than white patients to say that while in hospital they are discriminated against, restrained, receive unwanted sexual advances and find staff unhelpful. Nursing Times (Nov 14) reports that “staff training needs to pay greater attention to issues of ethnicity and culture”.

What is more, Pulse (Nov 16) writes that the Government is under pressure to revise its Mental Health Bill after complaints that plans for community treatment orders would lead to a disproportionate number of black people being given compulsory treatment. The Royal College of GPs says that it “could cause discrimination and damage good race relations”.

Internal race relations in the NHS may also be suffering because trusts haven’t logged ethnicity or gender when assessing roles and pay for Agenda for Change, which makes it impossible to tell if it’s fair, says Nursing Standard (Nov 15). It also says that foundation trusts are not being monitored on their implementation of equality and diversity policies.

But diversity does matter to healthcare. The way in which care staff interpret medical and scientific texts is influenced by their background in much the same way as people differ in their interpretation of religious texts, writes Matthew Links, an Australian cancer specialist, in the BMJ (Nov 18).

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