ETHNICITY, EQUITY AND THE USE OF HEALTH-SERVICES IN THE BRITISH NHS

This paper addresses the extent to which equity of treatment is receiv ed by people of different ethnic groups from the British National Heal th Service. Using data from the General Household Surveys of 1984-91 i t examines the use of general practitioner, outpatient and inpatient s ervices using three different methods to adjust for need and for other possible confounding variables. The results do not suggest there is a ny gross pattern of inequity between ethnic groups, except perhaps wit h respect to the Chinese population which displays consistently low le vels of utilisation. However, while use of GP services by minority eth nic groups is in general as high or higher than the white population, use of outpatient services is low. Some of the results also suggest th at there may be important ethnic differences underlying the broader fi nding of equity. For example, females of Pakistani origin report low l evels of GP use. More generally, excess use of GP services among sever al minority ethnic groups appears to be associated with need, while pe ople from most minority ethnic groups who do not report illness displa y especially low use of outpatient services relative to the correspond ing group in the white population. The paper examines the implications of these findings. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.