New health secretary urged to tackle racism in the NHS

The letter, set up by the human rights charity Brap, told Mr Streeting that the NHS must improve its culture regarding racism.

“You have a monumental job ahead of you. But you also have the opportunity to create a more equitable and inclusive NHS”

Open letter to Wes Streeting

It said Mr Streeting, who was narrowly elected to his seat in last week’s general election and appointed health secretary on Friday, had the “opportunity” to create a “more equitable and inclusive” NHS.

Queen’s nurse and race equality consultant Michelle Cox co-signed the letter, alongside Brap chief executive Joy Warmington and Middlesex University research fellow Roger Kline.

Ms Cox, herself, made headlines for winning a landmark employment tribunal case against her NHS employer, after she experienced racism at the hands of senior leaders – and detriment when she spoke out.

“The importance of tackling racism in healthcare is self-evident,” Brap’s letter said.

“In an NHS workforce where 25% of staff are now of Black or minoritised ethnic (BME) backgrounds and a significant and growing proportion of the population served by healthcare organisations are too, this is not remotely a marginal issue.”

The letter referred to responses from Brap’s recent Too Hot To Handle survey, which saw thousands of NHS workers speak about their experiences of racism while at work, citing it as evidence that change had to happen.

A recent Nursing Times investigation, correspondingly, found that racist incidents at a vast majority of NHS trusts in England were on the rise.

Citing a number of high profile reports about failings in the NHS over the past few decades, the letter continued: “You are no doubt aware of the links between bullying and patient safety.

“Bullying and incivility are a common feature in almost every independent review of systemic patient harm from Bristol to Francis to Ockenden,” it said.

It added: “Tackling (raced-based) bullying and harassment will enhance cooperation within teams, increase communication between colleagues, and, as a result, promote patient safety within trusts.”

Mr Streeting, in the letter, was given five areas relating to race and racism that Brap said he should make “explicit recommendations” to the health service on.

The first was to ensure NHS organisations become “more comfortable” with staff speaking out about racism, and to speed up the process of responding to issues “without retaliation”.

Brap’s letter stated that, at present, there remained a “paralyzing reluctance” within NHS organisations to talk about race.

“Some minimize racism when it occurs, others demand evidence it exists, others still simply ignore the issue, hoping the person experiencing it will stay quiet or move on,” the letter read. “This is simply unacceptable.”

Brap praised Mr Streeting for his party’s manifesto commitment to ban NHS managers from working in the health service if they silenced or victimised whistleblowers, in what would be a zero-tolerance for leaders who detriment those who speak out.

The new health and social care secretary was also called on to recommend that the NHS improve its staff’s “capacity” to talk about race and racism, and for it to set standards of behaviour which “challenge every day racism”.

Further, the letter said Mr Streeting should ensure that the NHS responded better to the “early warning signs of racism”, by tackling “informal” incidents and to train staff in “anti-racist practice”.

Brap’s letter added: “We would, of course, be happy to meet with you to discuss the lessons we have learnt working with NHS trusts, and the actions and ideas we believe can make a real difference to patient care, staff wellbeing, and the promotion of a fairer NHS.

“You have a monumental job ahead of you. But you also have the opportunity to create a more equitable and inclusive NHS. We hope you seize this opportunity,” it said.