Racism is ‘stain’ on NHS for staff and patients, says psychiatry chief | NHS

Racism is “a stain on the NHS” and tackling it is key to recruiting and retaining staff, the outgoing president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP) will warn.

The health service has a moral, ethical and legal duty to do more to stamp out racism, Dr Adrian James is expected to say at the college’s international congress in Liverpool.

He will cite pay gaps, disparities in disciplinary processes and a “glass ceiling” for doctors from minority ethnic backgrounds who want to progress into management positions as problems in the NHS that are linked to racism.

In his farewell speech on Monday after three years in the role, James is expected to say: “Institutional racism is rife in society and the NHS is not immune. We see its pernicious effects on colleagues who are leaving the NHS in droves.

“Tackling racism in the workplace is key to recruiting and retaining psychiatrists and other health practitioners. Let me be clear: there is absolutely no place for racism in today’s society. It is a stain on the NHS. It damages mental health and makes existing mental illness worse. It destroys lives – the lives of patients and colleagues.

“The NHS has a moral, ethical and legal duty to do much more to stamp out racism in all its forms.”

Last month, the NHS Race and Health Observatory, which was formed in 2021 to examine disparities in health and social care based on race, said better anti-racism policies could strengthen the NHS workforce.

The RCP agreed that “better care, training and anti-racist policies” would increase staff numbers in the NHS, and that this would “improve patient experience and save millions of pounds spent annually on addressing racism claims brought by staff, clinicians and patients”.

The college has launched a campaign calling on mental health employers across the UK to make changes to leadership, accountability and access to opportunities, to tackle racism in the workplace. This includes guidance for employers on how to recognise and respond to instances of discrimination on racial and ethnic grounds, and how to signpost staff to sources of support.

A recent survey by the college found that 58% of doctors from minority ethnic backgrounds said they had faced racism at work, 29% of those said it affected their health and 41% said it had an impact on patients or carers.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Any form of abuse, including racism, is completely unacceptable and NHS England recently published the first ever equality, diversity and inclusion improvement plan as part of the NHS long-term workforce plan to ensure NHS organisations continually improve the experience of our diverse workforce, which in turn improves care for patients.”