Warning over rise in racist abuse as health service considers denying care to abusive patients
NHS workers are facing a “noticeable rise” in racist abuse from patients, with radiographers reporting racial slurs, challenges to their qualifications and patients refusing to be treated by ethnic minority staff. The Society of Radiographers (SoR) has raised concerns about what it describes as worsening racism towards frontline healthcare workers over the past 18 months. Radiographers and other imaging staff have reported being called “monkeys” and “dirty foreigners”, while others have been told to “go back to your own country”. In one incident reported to the professional body, a man allegedly refused to allow a sonographer to scan his pregnant wife because of the healthcare worker’s ethnicity. The warnings come as NHS England prepares new national staff safety standards which could allow healthcare providers to refuse non-emergency treatment to patients who subject staff to racist or other abusive behaviour.
Staff report patients refusing treatment
According to accounts provided to the SoR, racist behaviour has ranged from explicit verbal abuse to patients refusing to engage with particular members of staff. Reported behaviour includes patients refusing treatment from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic clinicians, questioning whether non-white staff are properly qualified and deliberately directing questions towards white colleagues instead. Some radiographers have also reported patients pretending they cannot understand staff members with non-white accents. Others have encountered anti-immigration comments, including claims about people coming to Britain and “taking our jobs”. The SoR says healthcare workers should not be expected to tolerate racist remarks simply because they work in a patient-facing profession.
NHS survey reveals discrimination concerns
The concerns come against the backdrop of NHS staff survey findings showing discrimination from patients and other members of the public at a five-year high. According to figures highlighted in reports about the issue, 9.26% of NHS staff reported experiencing discrimination from patients or other members of the public. The NHS Race & Health Observatory described the findings as a “sobering reminder” of continuing racism within healthcare environments and has called for robust action by NHS organisations.
Patients could be refused non-emergency treatment
NHS England is developing national standards intended to strengthen protections for healthcare workers facing violence, discrimination and abuse. Measures being considered include giving hospitals greater ability to refuse non-emergency care to patients whose behaviour towards staff is racist or abusive. The approach would also seek to improve how incidents are recorded and monitored, provide greater support for affected staff and ensure repeat offenders face consequences. Any restriction on treatment would need to distinguish between non-urgent services and situations where someone requires emergency or immediately necessary medical care. The SoR has called on NHS trusts to ensure staff are not simply expected to accept racism as “part of the job”. The professional body wants racist abuse treated as a serious staff safety and safeguarding concern, with workers confident that managers will support them when incidents occur. The reported increase has also prompted wider concern about the impact of increasingly hostile anti-immigration rhetoric on workers across the health service.
