The National Health Service (NHS) was founded on the principle of providing appropriate and accessible health care services to the British population. Since its inception in 1948, changes in the demography of the British society, in part brought by post war immigration and settlement in response to acute labour shortages and by more recent influxes of refugee populations, have created new and additional challenges to those involved in health care. Specifically they need to respond to ethnic diversity in the provision of health care services, while previously occupying a marginalised position in health policy and service delivery, has come increasingly to the fore.

In addition, there is a growing recognition of the inequities and inequalities evident in health and health care provision and how these may impact upon the experiences of minority ethnic communities, with the result that increasing attention is being paid to the need to provide services which avoid discrimination and promote equality of opportunity (Smaje, 1995).

The response to the arrival and settlement of migrant communities in Britain after the Second World War provides the framework within which contemporary 'race relations' are usually understood. A core feature of this response was the belief that Britain had suddenly become 'multi-ethnic', and that the host population had been faced with the novel challenge of ethnic diversity.