Scores of BAME hospital staff report being bullied and racially abused’

SCORES of black, Asian and minority ethnic Derby and Burton hospital staff have faced abuse, bullying, harassment and discrimination from patients, their own colleagues and management during the pandemic.

The news comes out of the now-published results of the annual NHS staff survey, which was carried out in September through to November last year.

The time of the survey means many of the recent experiences reported by staff took place during the pandemic.

The results are broken down by hospital trust. The Local Democracy Reporting Service took a look at the results for the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. In the past 12 months, 29 per cent of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff at the Derby and Burton trust - of those who filled out the survey - have been bullied, harassed and abused by patients.

This totals 270 BAME staff. Alongside this, 27 per cent of BAME staff have been bullied, harassed and abused by their own colleagues in the past year, totalling a 244 staff.

In addition, 102 BAME hospital staff said they had experienced recent bullying, harassment or abuse from their managers. Only around half of staff who have faced these incidents have formally reported them.

One in five BAME staff say they have face discrimination from staff and management in the past 12 months, with the large majority (85 per cent) saying it was linked to their ethnic background.

The situation in which BAME staff face discrimination based on their ethnic background while at work, whether it is from patients or colleagues, is a worsening one.

The percentage of male BAME staff reporting discrimination based on their ethnic background nearly doubled from 38.7 per cent in 2018 to 67.4 per cent in the latest survey. Among female BAME staff, this has increased from 30 to 40 per cent during the same time period.

The hospital trust launched a “No Place for Racism” campaign in early February after a nurse from the trust, Aldarico Jr Velasco, went viral on social media after revealing an episode of racist abuse he endured from a patient while working in A&E.

Gavin Boyle, chief executive of the trust, responding to the findings, said: “It really shouldn’t need to be said but there is absolutely no place for racism in our society and certainly no place for it in our organisation. We are exceptionally proud to have such a richly diverse group of people working across our trust, reflecting the different communities that we serve.

“Our minority ethnic colleagues are an integral part of our UHDB family and central to everything that’s positive about our trust, so I find it incredibly concerning that some have been targeted for racial abuse.

“I would urge any UHDB colleague that ever witnesses such abhorrent behaviour to report it immediately.

“It is staggering to think that some patients would think to abuse our staff because of their race or culture – the same staff who dedicate so much of their lives to looking after others.

“In the NHS, you don’t get to choose who cares for you depending on the colour of their skin, the colour of their passport, or their accent.

“This kind of abuse will never be tolerated at our trust and, to outline this important point to the wider public, we recently launched our ‘No Place for Racism’ campaign.

“Sadly, like other NHS Trusts across the country, some of our

BAME staff have also told us about incidents of bullying or discrimination involving other colleagues, which is completely unacceptable.

“All of our people deserve to be treated with respect at work and should never have to go through this.

“I’d ask anyone that does experience any abuse to please get in touch with our Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, in confidence, so that action can be taken immediately.”

Derby and Burton hospital trust staff can find the contact details for the trust’s Freedom to Speak Up Guardian on the UHDB staff intranet.