‘Slow progress’ on tackling nurse discrimination in NHS

Over a quarter of female Black and minority ethnic nurses (BME) nursing and midwifery staff working in the NHS in England have experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from colleagues over a year period, according to new data.

The latest NHS Workforce Race Equality Standards (WRES) report, which covers data from 2023, revealed that 26.9% of female registered nursing and midwifery staff had faced mistreatment by staff in 2023. This was a slight decline on 2022 data (30.7%).

More widely, BME staff across all NHS professions were more likely (24.9%) to have experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from other staff in the last 12 months than any other group. This is a trend which has continued since at least 2015.

A spokesperson for Equality 4 Black Nurses said the findings ‘echo’ the experiences that Black and racially minority women have been describing to the campaign group for years.

‘Harassment, bullying, and discrimination in the workplace are not rare occurrences; they’re routine, particularly for Black women in nursing and midwifery,’ the spokesperson said.

‘And yet the system still expects these women to prove themselves over and over again, while the perpetrators face little to no accountability.’

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Their concerns were shared by Rohit Sagoo, leader of British Sikh nurses, who said mistreatment in the NHS ‘drains morale and fuels burnout’ across the nursing workforce.

‘The slow progress reflects entrenched power imbalances and under-representation of diverse leaders. We urgently need culturally intelligent leadership, safe escalation pathways, and accountability measures to create truly inclusive and valued NHS workplaces,’ he added.

Abuse from patients 

According to the WRES report, BME women (28.1%) were also most likely to have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, their relatives or the general public in the last 12 months in 2023.

Meanwhile, White men and BME men working as registered nurses were more likely to have faced harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives and the public than BME women, at 44.5% and 40.2% respectively.

Discrimination from colleagues 

In the same period, BME women (15.6%) were the most likely to have experienced discrimination from other staff in the last 12 months and rates were also high for BME men (12.8%).

Discrimination rates were especially high from other staff towards the registered nursing and midwifery workforce, at 17.8%.

This was a slight fall from 2022, where 19% of registered nursing and midwifery staff said they had faced discrimination from colleagues in the last 12 months.

Pay banding 

The WRES report also details levels of seniority and pay bands within the NHS, based on 2024 figures.

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It showed that 12.7% of staff at very senior manager level are from BME backgrounds – up from one in nine (11.2%) in 2023.

Overall, this marks an 85% increase since 2018 when there were 201 senior managers with BME backgrounds.

BME representation was highest at band 5 on Agenda for Change (AfC), the base grade for registered nurses, with 45.7% of BME staff working at this level.

Just over a quarter (25.2%) of BME staff were working at band 6 on AfC, with only 18.8% working at AfC band 7.

RCN general secretary and chief executive, Professor Nicola Ranger, said the figures suggest ‘progress’ in senior leadership roles, but said ‘there is still more work to be done’.

‘It is clear that despite pledges to improve the situation, for too many, discrimination and inequality in the NHS remain,’ she warned.

And NHS leaders ‘should see this report as a wake-up call that they need to do more to protect staff and end this abuse of our diverse workforce’, she added.

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Dr Navina Evans, NHS chief workforce, training and education officer, said it was ‘vital’ that NHS staff from BME backgrounds ‘have equal access to career opportunities so that we can provide the high-quality care for patients’.

‘This report shows whilst we have made some progress over the past year – in particular through better representation of BME staff in very senior management roles – there is still much more work to be done to make sure all staff are treated fairly,’ she added.

‘NHS employers must continue efforts to create an environment where all staff feel they belong, can safely raise concerns, and are empowered to deliver the best care possible.’