Nurses share harrowing testimonies of NMC failures at protest

Black and minority ethnic nurses’ experience of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) came under the spotlight today, with sobering testimonies given on how they said it had failed them.

They spoke during a protest outside the NMC headquarters in London over the regulator’s treatment of minority staff, which was sparked by the regulator’s recently published culture review.

The event was organised by the Equality 4 Black Nurses group, a peer-led support network for Black nurses who have faced discrimination at work, and was supported by several other organisations.

It follows the publication earlier this month of the findings of the review into the culture at the NMC, which exposed alarming instances of toxicity, racism and discrimination at all levels at the regulator.

Yasmin, a member of Equality 4 Black Nurses, said that the group had seen an exponential rise in its caseload, as more minority ethnic nurses were being referred to the NMC.

“By the time [nurses] come to us they are broken, absolutely broken by the system,” she said. “It’s just absolutely woeful.

“The recent report has highlighted the level of discrimination; it is a painful read but we all need to realise that this is reality for a lot of nurses,” she said.

The NMC culture review, published by former crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal and Rise Associates, found that racism was taking places among colleagues at the regulator, and also in its regulatory processes.

Figures have previously shown that Black and minority ethnic registrants are more likely to be referred for matters that do not, after investigation, require a regulatory sanction by the NMC.

Meanwhile, the review, which was commissioned by the regulator itself, also found that minority ethnic staff working for the NMC were “held back and treated differently”.

This treatment was found to have manifested itself through bullying, double standards regarding opportunities and discrimination.

Esther, a nurse who had sought support from Equality 4 Black Nurses, told the protest that the NMC had previously acknowledged issues of racism in the organisation, but very little had been done to tackle it.

“What they’ve constantly done is antagonise and victimise Black and Brown healthcare practitioners, but they’ve also antagonised a lot of overseas workers who have come to this country,” she said.

“Year after year they [the NMC] post all these stats but they do nothing,” she said. “That recent report has really opened our eyes.”

Esther said that Black nurses and midwives, and their colleagues had “had enough”.

“I don’t want empty words, lip service, empty gestures, we need them to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” she added.

Supporting the protest today was NMC Watch, a group which works to support registrants going through the fitness to practise (FtP) process.

Cathryn Watters, the founder of NMC Watch, told the protest that the NMC culture review made “shocking reading” but was “sadly no surprise to anyone”.

“The themes have been repeated year on year with no accountability or real change, because they are ingrained in the building behind us,” she argued, in reference to the NMC headquarters.

Ms Watters noted that her organisation had known of 27 nurses or midwives who have died prior to the conclusion of their FtP hearing.

It comes as the NMC culture review found that six nurses had died by suicide in the last year alone while under or having concluded an FtP investigation.

“All of us join the profession to advocate for those more vulnerable than ourselves, and yet no one is advocating for us,” she said.

“The current regulatory system does not protect patients from harm and potentially may in some cases increase the risk of harm.”

Ms Watters echoed calls made in recent weeks for the government to undertake a thorough independent inquiry into the NMC and the performance of its regulatory functions.

The government confirmed last week that it would meet with the NMC to discuss the findings of the review into its internal culture, as well as its response to it.

The NMC was contacted for comment.