Racial discrimination in the NHS - Paul Doran Law

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Racial discrimination in the NHS

Race discrimination in the NHS

Picture for illustration purposes only

Racial discrimination in the NHS

Michelle Cox, a senior nurse based in Manchester, was employed as a Continuing Healthcare Manager in the NHS from 2017.

In 2018, she was appointed the regional lead to the Chief Nursing Officers’ Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Strategic Advisory Group in the North West.

Her line manager, Gill Paxton, is white, while Michelle is black.

During 2019-20, Gill created an “intimidating and hostile and humiliating environment” for Michelle, which left her feeling “undermined, marginalised and ignored”.

For example:

In 2020, Michelle raised a formal grievance with NHS England (NHSE) followed by an appeal, but her concerns were dismissed or discredited by her manager.

With the support of the Royal College of Nursing, Michelle made claims of discrimination, harassment, victimisation and whistleblowing at the employment tribunal.

Her complaints of race discrimination and whistleblowing detriment were upheld because:

The union has called it a “landmark case”.

Racial discrimination in the NHS: What happened next

Following the tribunal, NHSE has identified “initial areas for action”, with more due to be co-developed with staff networks and trade unions. These include:

  1. Line managers and leaders: Training on recognising and addressing race discrimination and subconscious bias, and to improve the “quality and timeliness” of 121 conversations
  2. Employee relations investigations and panels: Decision-makers to be trained on understanding the importance of identifying race discrimination “and the many forms this can take”
  3. Grievance and freedom to speak up: Improving awareness of “appropriate routes” for escalating concerns, including whistleblowing routes, FTSU guardians, as well as human resources and organisational development involvement
  4. HR & OD: Expanding formal mediation offerings and opportunities for informal resolutions, anti-racism training for national and regional HR & OD teams, and race discrimination training in employee relations cases

From this you can see that the courage of one individual speaking up can make a difference, even across a big organisation such as the NHS.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 protects you from discrimination on the grounds of ‘race’, which includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins.

You are covered whether your contract is fixed-term or temporary, and if you are a job applicant, trainee, contract worker, company director, partner, on secondment or self-employed.

Discrimination can be:

In short, you should not be treated unfavourably because of who you are.

Racial discrimination in the NHS: What this means to you

Despite equality laws protecting people of all races and backgrounds, it seems that institutional racism is still an issue in many organisations (even in the publicly funded NHS – which should set the standard).

Whether in the public or private sector, your employer should follow a thorough, fair and proper recruitment process. What’s more, they should handle any grievances and appeals without further discrimination – this didn’t happen in Michelle’s case.

Michelle urges BME workers to speak up. If you experience racist discrimination at work, you have the right to challenge it. It can drive change and you might be awarded compensation – there’s no upper limit to the amount you can win.

Racial discrimination: What to do if it happens to you

In the first instance, try talking to your line manager, HR department or trade union. You can also get advice from Acas and/or specialist employment lawyers like us. We deal with discrimination issues all the time, and the initial conversation is free. In many cases, your employer should cover our fees.

Don’t delay, because there’s a strict time limit of three months less one day to bring a case to the employment tribunal.

Meanwhile, keep a written record of the discriminatory things that happen at work, including who said or did what, and when. This record will help you remember details, and can be used as evidence later. Also check your employment contract and staff handbook to see your employer’s written policy on discrimination, harassment and victimisation. It should also show the grievance procedure you’ll need to follow if you want to make an official complaint.

Race discrimination: Related reading

For more information on this subject, you might find our related articles useful:

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