Racism in the NHS - Documentary 

I'm a British Indian doctor for 22 years.. there is loads of racism in the NHS... it's subtle, it's not overt, it's bullying, it's not name calling.. I can't stand it.. Worst of, i can't stand the ignorance... EX NHS GP now... ! Thank you for brining this to light...

I am white, not medically trained. I've had plenty of hospital stays over the years and I would NEVER object to a Dr because of their skin colour. I cannot understand how, so called educated white senior staff, would think it's ok to undermine a person because of their ethnicity. As a patient I couldn't stand by and watch this without speaking up. When I am ill, I will always be so appreciative of my care by any Dr or nurse. It's the responsibility of colleagues and patients, to speak up and report any incidents of racism. We shouldn't have to experience such inequality and discrimination in 2022.

Trained in the NHS, and left it as soon as possible. The racism is rampant, patients are suffering and dying as a result. Blame culture, bullying, favouritism the list goes on. This institution needs to dismantled and rebuilt. The NHS Need a reform urgently. So much money mismanagement, hiring young inexperienced white staff over staff that have been qualified for years. It’s a dangerous game to play with someone health. Left and never looked back. I’d rather be broke, then be someone that is part of system that is enabling it.

Racism is real. I am an NHS nurse recruited during covid. Last week my son was ill. I knew he needed antibiotics . They didn't bother to take his bloods we were discharged and advised that if it gets worse we should go to another hospital 45mins away. 2days after still no improvement I took him to the other NHS TRUST and the white triage nurse asked me why I didn't take him to the GP ?? She asked which country I was from and rolled her eyes when I responded Anyways we waited 6hours we finally got to see a speanish doctor who said my six year old should have started antibiotics days ago. What a relief I was glad that someone was listening. My son who was weighing 35kg had lost some much weight and now 24kg. #Black life matters. #Diversity and inclusion should not be lip service 🙄

I am a midwife in UK and I regret coming to work there..I have felt unequal, frustrated, inferior when pregnant mothers declined my help and preferred my white colleagues over me. Anyway, I give ZERO FUCKS now as I am moving where I am needed, respected and paid for my hard work... Many of my colleagues left to other countries and now its my time.

My daughter is going to be a final year medical student after summer, she already experienced racism during her clinical years . Racism comes from consultants, registrars and nurses. She is a distinction students. When she thinks of going back to wards after this summer break, her fear and anxiety come back again

OMG I never thought this would be brought to light. I have been in the NHS since 2004 as a nurse and the stories I could tell are overwhelming. The most visible is the fast tracking of WYT nurses from qualification to positions of authority with little or no experience while by passing minorities in similiar posts with vast experience. I do not know how they hold they heads up high when they have clearly been favoured and have no clinical skills or knowledge. It is the NHS and racism is rampant. I have become so numb to it.

To the Trinidadian young man ...you don't speak ghetto. You speak standard English with a Trini accent. Continue to be proud of who you are and where you came from 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹

I am a mental health nurse in the UK for nearly 7 years and how I suffered. I'm glad we are talking about it. Thank you for this video

I hope foreign doctors and nurses who are watching this and are thinking of applying to work in the UK think long and hard . Then consider the long working hours, then consider the longest commuting times, then consider the rip off property prices, then consider the high rent/poor standard accommodation, then consider high cost of living, then consider the highest public transport fares in Europe, then consider the quality of life etc.

We need more documentaries like these, because we don't talk about it enough, distract us with a thousand nonsense, instead of talking about serious things. Thank you very much for this documentary! I'm in the UK 🇬🇧 and and I always have to fight against racism, it hurts a lot.

I am black nurse and i chose to work so i can be the voice of the BAME Patient , and ensure they get the adequate care the amount of times i have seen BAME people not get care they deserve or just being overlooked compared to the white patient is heart breaking .

In 2015, I had an Angina attack and collapsed on the underground station, ambulance was called and was taken to A&E after waiting for ages, I was sent home by an angina nurse saying "black people don't have angina". Both paramedics, and the nurse where thinking I was acting up and refused to do any investigation. I couldn't even walk so I called myself a taxi to take me home. I live alone so I asked the taxi to stop and get me some Aspirin on the way. I put myself on Aspirin since until I started feeling better. My condition went undiagnosed even after having stillbirth and losing my baby. It wasn't until 2 years ago, when I was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Thank you for this! This is amazing. As a nurse who also works within the NHS, I’m glad this is being highlighted! Great job! We need more of this!

I’ve been living in Portugal since 2019 as a black woman and the service I receive has been 1000x better

Fantastic work, as a biomed student I think in the future im definitely going to conduct research for the BAME community because everyone is entitled to good healthcare

Important to note racism also exists within ethnic minority medics. I and my family members have been treated dismissively by Asian and black medical professionals who blatantly have prioritised white patients, and also look visibly surprised that I speak English well and have an education and a job etc.

Incredible documentary revealing the the not-so spoken about realities of the healthcare profession that need to be revealed into in order for progress to be made to make the NHS more all-inclusive, holistically healthy and welcoming for staff. Which will subsequently lead to an overall better NHS experience for all that are involved. Thank you Hashvi & Alysha! All the best as you go into life as a doctor!

This is great work!!! I studied and qualified in the UK Physiotherapy over 10 yrs ago and there were not as many black physios then. I suffered racism as a student on placements and upon qualifying worked in the nhs and suffered racism from both workmates and patients! I left the nhs and now work for a charity, but recently attended a national physio conference where I experienced racial profiling it’s unbelievable that these people will never change!!! I have vouched never to work for the nhs again it’s sad.

This was a very well put together video. Kudos to all those who were part of the making, production and delivery of it. A big yes to raising awareness and speaking out, backed up by facts. Great video

I’m a student paediatric nurse and I have very sadly seen many teenagers and parents be racist towards doctors and nurses and even shout racist abuse to them, I honestly don’t understand why people do that.

My partner was so excited and enthusiastic when he started his job as a doctor at the NHS. But he has been upset due to racism. Some patients don't trust him and some even think that he is a spy because he is Chinese. It kills his enthusiasm. But I'm glad that he still keeps moving forward

Thank you so much for this video. I recently experienced negligence AND racism from the NHS. I was at the lowest and most vulnerable point in my life and some of the healthcare assistants there were ......🥴. If it wasn’t for the nurses who, happened to be black, did a phenomenal job in taking care of me! I owe my life to them.

Glad to hear people speaking out. I have also experience this kind of behaviour on myself and my children.

Everyday, when I visit my patients, they say “the NHS is going down the river because of the foreigners medical and nursing staff, they don’t know what they are doing”, when I say that I am not British, they apologise saying that I AM DIFFERENT. I am Not different I AM HUMAN. Discrimination and racism exists in many ways white people like me suffer too, because of my weight, my speech, the way I dress, my culture and also my colour.

Hello..so glad you did this..I am an ex nurse who faced gross discrimination in the hospital I trained and worked in from 1979 till I was suspended and dismissed in 2008 by the very hospital..my final salary was £13 ,000..they denied me equal pay where I lost out on salary of £350,000 in increments..it was heart breaking since there weren't any other Gujarati nurses I could talk to ...I was then sectioned under mental health for 6mths and drugged up for 10yrs. No support from mental health or any other services. I would be grateful if you can put me in touch with any organisation that will support me .

Loved this!!!!! Having recently experienced a lot of racism in the NHS I really appreciate this video because it is soooo important to bring attention to issues of racism is institutions like the NHS because our lives depend on this. Brilliant work!!!!

I have suffered racism and discrimination from a Nurse in my previous job, weeks before Brexit. I am white, I am brazilian also portuguese, overweight. This nurse on a Night Shift decided to ask me why I came to England, and when I was answering her questions, she started to shout at me saying how disgusted she was to have me in her team, and how disgusted she was for the NHS to contract foreigners to work amongst British workers, and she was waiting the BREXIT to get rid of me and all immigrants that are working for NHS and taken British jobs away from British people, patients and relatives heard her accusations and I was shocked in silence. A relative saw how petrified I was, and took my hand and asked me to stay with them. The insults in that particular continued until the day she left.

What an AMAZING documentary!!! So many facts mentioned in this documentary are so relatable. Thank you for the being the mouthpiece for those who cannot speak❤. I'm a new subscriber. Looking forward to watching more content from this channel.

I work in the NHS and I really appreciate this documentary. There needs to be more fairness and equality in the work place

So glad this is talked about. I’m doing social work and really want to rise awareness on decolonisation of social work.

Thanks for putting the video together. We definitely need more awareness and discussions about racism. One just have to be resilient, stand strong. It's annoying because NHS are recruiting staff from abroad and yer they are racist towards the same group of people coming over to support the NHS. Ignorant is a disease. God help us 🙏🏽

Everyone must share this across all social media platforms. Great work.

Not only NHS, I have been facing racism and discrimination even at warehouse I am working currently. I always feel hurt working in this environment. I am the only Asian inside. Thank you for bringing this into light.

Brilliant work! Very much needed to be seen by many

As a Filipino nurse in the UK...I hope we learn to speak out more...

Brilliant documentary. I'm really shocked by some of the stories, thank you for shining a light on them

Listen racism will never go away never.. Am 49 years old, my grandmother is from the Windrush generation, she worked as an enrolled nurse in a hospital in sidcup. She suffered racism she was told by a passenger on a bus going to Orpington after a night shift that ti's bus not going to Peckham. She returned to jamaica and died April 1991. And in 2022 am experiencing the same thing she suffered then. Where is the change..my son was told by his GP that is low HB was normal because he is black.

Absolutely brilliant documentary, kudos to the creators and courageous participants for speaking out 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿

Thank you Sarah, Nathan and Bella for representing us. Good video.

This is excellent, as a patient from an ethnic minority that doesn't feel safe having NHS treatment, I thank you for this documentary.

Very enlightening documentary! And such an important topic.. Props to those who came forward to share their experiences

such a well put together documentary, proud of you guys

The Trinidad young Dr! Keep it up! Let them see you shine all through! You have a choice just like they do! You chose nit ti waste your life... but to be a Dr! Well done!

I have been here for 6 months.......this country I am facing racism in all aspects of my life, jobs, interviews, treatment and while traveling.......we people have brains and hearts....they don't have either

Yup. As a pharmacist, I relate and empathize. We need more voices to come out and for things to change

Thank you for making this brilliant video. It was worth it.👏👏👏

That racism is a sign of primitivity

Thanks for this video more of this documentary is needed. I started working with nhs newly the racism is on another level, The first month in their I nearly run away but I have to stand tall to be who I am. Some people run away cos of bully racism in Nhs. I think we need more supportive bodies and be included in policy making.

My dear ♥️ young doctors to be. I thank you for your bravery, however, this is not a new phenomenon. I have been in the NHS for 40 years and have seen it all. My child who is a senior doctor has been out of work for over 2 years. Now is a shell of the young confident person we raised. Years of derogatory and racist remarks metted out on him all these years in medial school and training years finally took its toll. I have refused to allow them to kill him as their final wish. I wish you all good luck and if you need a full story of my experience, you are welcome to contact me. The scourge of racism has eaten deep into the system and I don't know how it can be tackled. I'm sorry to say that the awareness was always there. How many young people have died from the effects of racism is unknown 🤔 I found my strategy of coping somehow. The saddest part of ot all is that they set the Asian doctors against black doctors as in colonial mentality.

Good video. It's important to note that a lot of ethnicities represented here are commonly known to be collectively racist towards Black people as well as supporting/joining the white power structure in their workplace to enable racism. We have been labelled as BAME, a term which most Black people in the UK dislike as we don't have the same experiences when it comes to living in the UK. However, I am glad the general topic is being investigated and highlighted to the public. It's needed. Racism is never ok.

Having lived in other countries, racism is an unfortunate fact of life everywhere. However, the fact some of the racism is from people in the medical profession is pretty shocking.

Thank you for creating this, this will resonate with a lot of people who cannot share their true experience due to backlash.

I suffered that when i was pregnant. I generally ignore small pains and discomft and dnt go to a gp. But when i was with child and had a c section, each appointment i was made feel that because of my ethnicity i am more prone to diseases and we are not the healthiest of genetics etc. in one appointment one student nurse asked me if i am eligible to have a treatment in this country when i have lived her for more then 10 years and my apaper workclearly stated my nationality status. These small things, even after contributing for a decade, i want to go back and raise my child in a country she will not be discriminated.

Well presented video. Thank you for bringing this to the forefront of the NHS

I m a nurse, I was in a ward once and 2 doctors one brown wd come to us (me and a white healthcare assistant), the doctors wd only look at the hca (who hd jst joined in and was new) and talk to her only abt wt needed to be done for tht pt not at me who ws the actual nurse and i ws there looking at them and trying to get involved but ws totally ignored. whether tht ws because the hca was white or simply because she hd a blue scrub top tht day, dnt know but tht did make me feel worthless.

I suffered racism from the midwives when I had my son 16 years ago I chose not to have any more children because of the treatment and I dreaded going back. I've used the NHS twice in my life and both times the care was appalling. I would never trust my son being in their care I'm afraid.

Really interesting and quite difficult watching, well done for bringing this perspective to the general public's domain, I hope many people learn from it. I know I will!

Enlightening and at the same time, alarming and depressing. Abuse and disrespect should not be tolerated in a civilized society.

We need more of these documentaries. Thank you

The British Medical Association has it's findings being shown throughout this short documentary but the BMA is just stating the problems and evidence of them statistically but what are they actually doing and what are the tangible positive outcomes?

Honestly racism will never go away. I like to believe that I have become accustomed to it such that it doesn't really hurt me the way it used to when i was much younger. Why would someone even ask a doctor why he decided to do medicine instead of hospitality? That is beyond me :(

I am a pharmacist, before graduating I used to work in hospital part time, and while working I saw a lot of racism and even sexism to some level. I did not like the environment and decided that after graduating I wont work in the hospital/NHS.

As a black woman I have experienced racism and neglect from white and Asian doctors, nurses and hospital staff. Let's be entirely honest about racism in the NHS for black people..

I was on my placement as a student and was been asked to borrow a dressings next door as the ward were I am they run out of stocks. I went to the next ward and asked one of the healthcare assistant, she open the door for me and told me to find it inside, one of the staff came out from the stock room and I greeted her when she came out afterwards she came back and asked me which ward I came from and why I am grabbing stuff without asking permissions, I replied to her I have asked one of the HCA and she told me to find it inside, I am so surprised how she reacted and told me that, the person I asked was just an HCA, and I should have asked someone more senior, I just paused and look at her and she told me about cost and how expenses in the ward. I really thought that we all work as one and that one dressing is not for me it's for our patient.

Nothing going to change….NOTHING

Please show this on a television documentary!!!!!!!!!!

It is about time some people have finally started to speak out about it. For years it appeared to only West Indians and Black British, that faced it or spoke out against it. Report it and never tolerate it. We are here to support each other and we are not the problem. Some of those universities mentioned also have issues with racism to. This country is riddled with it, it is subtle and sadly I believe it will always be in the fabric of the UK and other European countries. It is a mindset, they consider themselves better than others. No workshop is going to work. Racists are experiencing mental health issues.

Thank you for this incredible documentary,

Iam glad you talking about this NHS.

Can we also talk about the attitude of nursing staff specifically towards international medical graduates /junior doctors??? If racism is 100% I feel 70% comes from the nursing staff, especially if you are someone with an accent.

Important video, well done indeed!

I experienced it today . They ignore you even if you work hard and take care of the patients.

Simply brilliant!!!!

I find it shocking that some patients refuse to be looked after ethnic minority NHS staff. Surely, the staff should take it to their seniors and make a complaint. Keep records of those incidents and how it was dealt with my your management and take it all to tribunal! This is absolutely disgusting and shouldn't be allowed! Everyone involved or witnessed should be held accountable!

If all the migrants walk out of the NHS they would vanish and become dysfunctional. People don't appreciate the hard work and years of education this people do . I wanted to study health care but this actually make me consider this field. 😔

Working in NHS is all about if your face fit and being part of the clique

This racism is so real in the NHS UK It damn sucks!!

An important documentary. Thank you for making it and sharing it.

Sickening. Things need to change.

I faced racism not only from white people, mainly phillapino, Brazilian, and blacks. I thought being coloured myself that I have to only look out for racism from white people. I was wrong big time. I'm faced with it not only because being brown, but for religion purposes as well, I wear scarf. Final year student as a nurse, the university is partly to blame as well as the trust I do my placements with. They passed me on 2 placements in my PAD. 2 months later they gaslighted me and got me to repeat them and I've lost those hours. Which delayed the graduating and I have outstanding hours. They refuse breaks as im diabetic. Tbh I should sue them. I'm so close to the end, and they've put me through F2p twice. I'm thinking is it worth it, all this stress, sleepless nights, depression, binge eating, feeling like this. I don't know how these people actually got to be doctors, nurses and hcs, kitchen staff. I got on with the cleaners, hca and the porter mostly. The doctors and nurses treated me like dirt. Everybody had to learn from somewhere n was a student once, which they tend to forget. Nobody is born with knowledge and skills unless u think your a prophet. I would've been a excellent nurse, but waiting for the outcome. If they prevent me from achieving this qualification and working. Then ill be on benefits looking after my 3yo. I've tried and the hefty student loan is on my back. British born in London, im being treated like this because of my religion tbh. I've completed those placements during covid, risking my life thrown into wards that had staff shortages only to be used, worn out and yet failed. I have made dua and pray that God deals with them appropriately Aameen. Im too old for this game now. It's a sad situation and a depressed one, death can't cure this matter, I'm being positive and hopeful bcs of my little boy.

Thank you for this documentary it was very highlighting. I am about to join the NHS very soon and I am hoping that I don't have to face anything like the experience this documentary as highlighted. Yes I have faced racism in my life but it's nothing light what was mentioned in the documentary. I hope that the racist policies have been put in place and that professionals bodies and the public of a ethnic minority group don't have to face such behaviour from their own white counterparts or the public. Why can't they be announcements made to the professional bodies and the public on the type of behaviour that is expected of everyone who occupy or use these services and also reinforce the consequences of their actions if they fail to comply to these policies.

Plenty of my personal experiences at NHS. Not everybody is racist, but definitely racism is there. Sometimes racism and discrimination is done in clever way which is hard to prove. There is threatening environment, exposing such discrimination may end up with revenge or back stabbing.

If you do this with nurses, the horrors we face will be unbelievable

Wow 😮 but Yes in all aspects of the BAME's life these type of things affect from walking, shopping, at work, driving, school, the way you talk, the way you dress, etc ... Very Very Interesting very good video ... 👍👍💯💯🔥🔥

Everyone needs more than their salary to be financial stable. The best thing to do with your money is to invest it rightly, because money left for saving always end up used with no returns.

Funny how the NHS actually relies on the foreign professionals..

As a traveller working 13 years in nhs I was called " a pikey B " " a thief " amongst many other false accusations. I am still fighting against the racist workplace I resigned from, and hope to end all racism against traveller people

I'm happy this has come up as a lot of us are scared to speak. In most cases even when you speak up you still don't get any help. It's very demoralising.

It's called institutional racism. Affects overseas doctors and nurses mostly. If you're an Indian staff you automatically have an invisible label over your forehead as "lazy" and "incompetent" unless you put in 110 % and beyond while the "others" work at average or subaverage capacity. That's black or ethnic tax for you. It means being African, asian or of ethnic origin you have to put in well over the 100%. However the same white staff would just need to be average or even slightly sub standard to be accepted into say training programmes, promotions, jobs etc. One training programme in a particular hospital back in 2004/2005 I know would need overseas graduates with UK experience and qualifying exams to also have the first part of the membership exams to get into a junior specialist training programme so " it proves their commitment". Are they saying ethnic doctors aren't commited so have to prove this but caucasian doctors are automatically committed ? However for the locals - majority whom were caucasians and less than competent and eventually would flunk out of the same training programme without passing their membership exams and go on to do something else, were easily allowed in to this prized training programme. They were allowed in without the first part of their membership exam. No doubt there would be other NHS trusts all across the country with simililar practices which should be deemed questionable now as it implies competent overseas qualified doctors are considered second class citizens in the NHS. You are unworthy until you prove yourself to be worthy and caucasian staff are automatically worthy. I know one junior doctor who was told that there wasn't much use in them as an asian doctor to apply for specialty training like in cardiology/respiratory because most asian doctors only get chosen to do something like geriatrics as a specialty. Although I don't think the new timers are not going to be as audacious as some of the old timers, it still goes on in the NHS silently. Those whom I know of in general practice will often tell you how patients in some areas will treat the asian or ethnic doctor diffrently to a caucasian doctor. This even extends into the actors who play mock patients who attend the GP membership exams. Nobody talks about how they contribute to the previously noticed disparity in pass rates between asian/ oversease and caucasian doctors. Often the examiners are blamed for showing partiality. However feedback needs to be obtained about the experience from the doctors taking the exam about the mock patient actors - I think one would obtain some interesting insights. Then watch your GP surgeries. See how many asian or ethnic doctors work in a perdominantly caucasian doctored GP practices. Even if an asian or ethnic doctor is brought in as a staff at the practice, watch how many stay in these practices. There is no burying of one's head under the sand about the prejudice against ethnic staff in the NHS especially highlighted by the Covid pandemic. It was appalling how I was told by doctor & nursing friends in hospital how so many asian, african and ethnic doctors and nursing staff were predominantly automatically put in the frontline areas and Covid wards instead of the majority white clinical staff dispatched to "other" areas especially around the time our hospitals didn't have PPEs. The ethnic clinical staff were sent like lambs to the slaughter. I will also say for every one of those racist doctors, nurses or managers there are also ethical & supportive caucasian doctors who become a witness & know the reality of what is happening to a colleague and can be an astonishingly supportive in standing up against such behaviour towards their colleague or subordinate who is being unjustly treated.

The company I work for needs to watch this documentary, it's disgusting how company's enable patients and even their families to treat staff. I am still till today been discrimated against " I can't work with you.. where is so , so and so🙄🙄". You get fed up at some point and I feel really attacked and belittled all the time .

I've spent a lot of time in hospital over the last 2 years and can not fault them at all ,even down to the cleaners .simply the best ,good work

Racism still exists and have felt it deeply .There is no use in opening up as its not from one race but whoever is loud with power and whoever is a majority nationality in your workplace as they are well protected by others.

Btw racism is in every country. Just because people of other color mostly move to the developed countries that are white so we think that there is more racism. Wihin religion there is discrimination. Think what I am trying to say. I am not a white but brown person. I have seen people discriminate you if you don’t speak the same language or don’t come from the same culture.

I feel sad this still happen in this century I us to be a care worker and know exactly what they felt. I us to treat end of life dementia patients and cancer patients, sometimes I came across patients didn't want me to touch them....is sad and frustrating 😪

The NHS is NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. Period. Pointless throwing money at it. Time to dismantle. People are going abroad for treatment (cheaper than private).

In my day nursing was a profession/vocation .1974 ...Now just a job not for all but most. Sadly.

All talks and no actions, the question is what is being done to resolve the situation?

I am so happy that people are speaking about it.. this is powerful in itself. But let me bring something to light that in my own country ( I am not working in the uk ) me my spouse both being doctors have been discriminated and harassed and it's depressing because it's not being addressed to.. I was harassed in my pregnancy too and I couldn't do anything because they were the people with power and were aware of the same.

I'm a Polish student nurse and hcsw working for the nhs. I wish i didn't have to answer patients and staff questions about my ethnic background and accent.