Ethnic minority patients' health 'at risk'

THE health of ethnic minority patients in the Lothians is being put at risk because of failure to collect data.

NHS Scotland said the health board was not doing enough to monitor the ethnicity of the people with whom it dealt.

As a result, clinicians may be missing key trends or problems among certain ethnic groups.

Latest figures released by ISD Scotland revealed NHS Lothian only notes the ethnic origin of about eight per cent of the people it sees, one of the lowest rates in Scotland.