Ethnicity codes

[Jenny Bater]

Has anyone collected patient ethnic data from GP practices. I understand that practices have the facility on their patient registration systems to store this information and wonder if any pct/ha has been able to collect/use this information for health needs.

[Paul Elwell]

I have also been asked to enquire about practices recording ethnicity, and have found that few do. It is recommended to record this by the IA for diabetes patients though (under read code 9S% i believe).

[Kerry Oliver]

My understanding is that the 9S% ethnicity codes are categorised in the same way as the 2001 census, which will become the national mandatory standard for the collection of ethnicity. Therefore best to stick to 9S% codes rather than country of origin, which is less useful in terms of assessing clinical risk anyway.