The NHS in Scotland is failing to meet the needs of the country's ethnic minorities because of a lack of information about patient backgrounds recorded by GPs, according to a leading academic at Edinburgh University.

Professor Raj Bhopal, a specialist in public health at Edinburgh's medical school, has told the Sunday Herald that Scotland's GPs are continuing to breach policy and legal targets for addressing inequalities in the treatment of minority groups due to a lack of appropriate data being held at surgeries.

The comments mark a blow for NHS Scotland and the Scottish government who are in the midst of a publicity campaign as the NHS prepares to celebrate its 60th birthday next month.

According to the Scottish government's Fair for All strategy, and legal requirements under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, health professionals have a duty to iron out inequalities resulting from ethnic diversity.

Professor Bhopal warned that the NHS in Scotland is "struggling" to meet these targets and that a lack of information about patients' ethnic backgrounds is making it difficult to address the specific health problems.

He said: "To improve the health of the whole population we need to understand the needs of the whole community within that population. That is how we can go about reducing inequalities in health care.

"Despite legal and policy requirements, Scotland is still struggling to address inequalities in data about ethnic groups. There is work going on, but progress is alarmingly slow.

"What we need is a partnership between politicians, health professionals, data scientists and the public if we are to make any progress."

A report published on Thursday by the Ministerial Task Force on Health Inequalities recognised that insufficient data was recorded at primary care level to ensure that health needs were being met among minority communities. The report called for a full review of data collection in primary care and urged the Scottish government to set specific targets.

Professor Bhopal has published a report on the "information gap" concerning patients' ethnicity which is limiting the treatment of minorities. His research has shown that the ethnicity of a patient can be a significant factor in what kinds of diseases patients are likely to get.

Figures show that people from South Asian backgrounds are three to four times more likely to get type 2 diabetes. A survey in 2004 found that 69% of GP surgeries and health centres did not record the ethnicity of patients.

GPs are required to develop a demographic profile to ensure ethnicity is considered when patients are treated.

Dr Ken Lawton, chair of the Scottish Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners, claimed that GPs were fulfilling their legal duties. He said: "I don't think it is difficult to record this data. It is already part of our contractual framework and our organisational criteria to record the ethnicity of all new registrations in Scotland.

"All GPs are aware of the effect that ethnicity has on diseases. However, one barrier may be the amount of administrative time it takes to update records retrospectively. With a 10% turnover in patients in Scotland there will be time eventually, but GPs simply do not have the time to update records immediately.

"The ethnicity of all new registrations is recorded and we understand fully the legal and policy requirements."

Cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said: "It is important that the NHS understands and responds to the needs of the different groups and communities it serves."