Recording ethnicity in primary care: assessing the methods and impact

### The importance of ethnicity recording in the UK The reduction of ethnic health inequalities has been a priority for government health policy in the UK since the introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act in 2000.1 This Act places a duty on all public bodies to consider the race-equality implications in all of the policies that shape their operations. The UK is one of the few European countries that officially recognises the need for ethnicity data to support service-monitoring purposes and places no restrictions on the collection of such data; this is in contrast to France and Germany, for example, where restrictions on collecting such data do exist.2 For general practice this means developing robust counts of ethnicity at practice level and using the data to monitor access and service utilisation. This is particularly important in urban areas, which tend to be most ethnically diverse and where population mobility is greatest. At the local level, one of the primary purposes of collecting ethnic-category data about patients is to establish whether services are meeting the needs of different ethnic groups in the community and to assist future planning of service provision. In addition, reductions in the disparity in health service utilisation and outcomes by different ethnic groups can be used as a key service quality marker in any health system.3 To date, ethnicity recording at the general practice level in the UK has been low.2,4 To bolster data quality and recording levels in primary care, the NHS has introduced financially incentivised targets for ethnicity recording in general practice through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF); however, this is limited to new registrations.5 ### Defining and categorising ethnicity The legal definition of ‘ethnic group’, as adopted by the House of Lords, states that a long, shared history and common cultural tradition are essential characteristics. In addition, a common …