A new drive to tackle “rampant levels of bullying and harassment” experienced by ethnic minority staff in the health service has been launched by the NHS Race and Health Observatory.
As part of a 16 month programme, researchers from the universities of Birmingham and Sheffield and the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration will use a mixed method study to analyse NHS staff survey data and produce recommendations for resources to close the “ethnicity gap in bullying, harassment and abuse.”
The announcement follows a recent open letter to The BMJ from doctors and healthcare staff,1 warning that a rising “wave of racism” and far right groups in the UK was affecting patients and staff. Helen Salisbury, a GP and BMJ columnist who signed the letter, told The BMJ that she had even heard of ethnic minority doctors trying to relocate because of far right activity that was making them fear for the safety of their families.2
One NHS trust leader told the Guardian that some areas of the country where a large number of St George’s flags were put up during a coordinated campaign linked to far right groups had become “no-go zones” for homecare providers, leaving black and Asian NHS staff feeling “deliberately intimidated.”3
The health secretary, Wes Streeting, last week told the News Agents podcast,4 “I have been inundated with people who work in health and social care saying, ‘This is what’s happening with us, this is how I’ve been made to feel at work.’
“I’ve got a responsibility as the leader of that system to challenge it and to give my full throated backing to NHS staff who say [to patients], ‘You’ve got the right to access the NHS, but that’s not a right to abuse us. If you don’t want us to treat you, you can go somewhere else’—and they have got my full support in taking that stance.”
Targeted interventions
Almost 30% of the NHS workforce are from ethnic minority backgrounds. These staff reported higher levels of harassment, bullying, or abuse than white colleagues across 89% of NHS trusts in the 2023 NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard report.5
Jeremy Dawson, professor of health management at the University of Sheffield, who is involved in the observatory’s project, said, “Given recent news stories about increasing racism in the NHS, it is becoming increasingly vital to work to reduce the negative consequences for NHS staff from ethnic minorities. Research has shown that these negative experiences have substantial impacts not only on their own wellbeing but also the quality of care delivered to patients.”
Using NHS workforce data, Dawson hopes that the research team will be able to “pinpoint problem areas where interventions can be best targeted and work to identify potential solutions that can be implemented across NHS trusts.”
Owen Chinembiri, assistant director of workforce at the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said, “Bullying, harassment, and abuse continue to have a deeply damaging impact on staff wellbeing and contribute to a culture of fear. Crucially, we see significant disparities in how these behaviours affect different ethnic groups across the NHS.
“Black, Asian, and minority ethnic staff are disproportionately represented in lower pay bands and often report worse workplace experiences than their white colleagues.”
Chinembiri said that a key component of the work would be to develop “improvement targets and ambitions for individual hospital trusts, [integrated care boards], and regions—ensuring greater accountability and drive where progress is lacking.”
