RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: There is some research which variously suggests that adults from some ethnic minority groups in the UK may be disproportionately likely to attract certain psychiatric diagnoses, and, in turn, to be admitted to inpatient facilities and compulsorily detained there; there are concerns too about over-representation in the criminal justice system. Little such work has been done with adolescents. AIMS: To determine the proportion of young people from ethnic minorities admitted to one UK specialist medium secure hospital unit for adolescents and describe their diagnoses. METHODS: Data were extracted from the case records of all 61 young people admitted to this unit at any time between 1 April 1995 and 31 March 2002. RESULTS: Inpatients from ethnic minority backgrounds were significantly over-represented when compared with National Census data. This was mainly accounted for by inpatients from Black African (11%) and Black Caribbean backgrounds (8%). There were, however, no within unit differences in final diagnoses between the ethnic groups. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Our findings confirm both a high overall proportion of young people from ethnic minorities using a national medium secure hospital service and considerable ethnic diversity within that. They are discussed in the context of one relevant national government initiative for improving responses to minority groups.