Nurses to stage protest over NMC treatment of minority staff

The group Equality 4 Black Nurses announced today that nursing staff plan to protest outside the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) headquarters on 17 July.

“We need an inquest into the treatment that nurses have been subjected to”

Neomi Bennett

It comes as a review published this week into the culture at the NMC revealed alarming instances of toxicity, racism and discrimination at all levels of the regulator

The peer-led support network for Black nurses who have faced discrimination at work said the protest would demand justice and equality for all Black nurses impacted by racism in the NMC and wider NHS.

Neomi Bennett, founder of Equality 4 Black Nurses, told Nursing Times that “enough is enough”.

She said: “As a registrant, as a nurse, we need to stick by the rules and we have to maintain professionalism, be caring and respectful, and show kindness [and] the NMC does not show that.

“They need to understand that their behaviour underpins what a nurse is supposed to represent, and they are not setting a good example,” she said in reference to the NMC.

The NMC culture review, published earlier this week by Nazir Afzal and Rise Associates, found that minority ethnic staff at the regulator were “held back and treated differently”.

This manifested itself through bullying, double standards regarding opportunities and discrimination, according to the review.

For example, one person said that there was an overriding perception at the NMC that people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds were “not good enough for certain positions”.

Meanwhile, the review exposed how minority ethnic staff on recruitment panels at the NMC were subjected to racist views.

The review noted that, in one instance, someone on a recruitment panel was alleged to have said “look at all the rubbish we’ve got today”, while observing a list of job applicants with foreign sounding names.

According to the review, they then added: “How are we supposed to appoint anyone from this garbage?”

Ms Bennett said the publication of the review had led to “mixed emotions” for those in Equality 4 Black Nurses.

“It’s something we’ve been campaigning for, for the last four years, and nobody’s been listening to us – we’ve been silenced,” she said.

“We’ve tried to present the situation to the NMC, we’ve tried to demonstrate and show them, and we’ve also represented nurses on panels, but nobody ever wants to listen to us.

“To actually hear now that an independent review has basically concluded and said what we’ve known all along, and people are now listening, it brings some relief,” she said. “But it also brings the emotion of ‘why did it take this?’”

Racism was identified as taking place among colleagues in the NMC, and in NMC processes.

Figures have previously shown that Black and minority ethnic registrants are more likely to be referred for matters that do not, after investigation, require a regulatory sanction by the NMC.

Nursing Times reported earlier this year that hundreds of Black and minority ethnic nurses were subjected to covert and insidious racism, particularly around disproportionate referrals to the regulator.

Concerningly, the NMC culture review revealed that six nurses had died by suicide in the last year while under or having concluded a fitness to practise (FtP) investigation.

Ms Bennett told Nursing Times that she believed that this figure was a lot higher.

“Some nurses come to Equality 4 Black Nurses suicidal,” she explained. “We’ve had to rescue those nurses because they’ve got nobody to support them.”

The protest next week will call on the NMC to take immediate and concrete actions to address the systemic racism and bullying Black nurses are facing.

Overall, the group has called for an end to racism in healthcare, fair treatment of minority ethnic staff, robust support systems for all nurses and to ensure the NMC is held accountable for their actions.

Equality 4 Black Nurses is also the latest organisation to call for government intervention following the review. Ms Bennett said: “It needs to go above the NMC, it needs accountability.

“We need an inquest into the treatment that nurses have been subjected to,” she said. “I feel like we need a government intervention right now.”

Earlier this week, the Queen’s Nursing Institute wrote to the new health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, asking for the government to launch an independent review of the NMC and the performance of its regulatory functions.

The government then confirmed that it would meet with the NMC to discuss the findings of the review into its internal culture, as well as its response to it.

An NMC spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to anyone who feels they’ve experienced racism or discrimination within our regulatory processes.

“Nazir Afzal’s recommendations will help move the NMC towards achieving racial equity.

“Every nurse, midwife and nursing associate on our register deserves no less.

“It’s paramount that professionals feel respected, valued and supported in their role so they can deliver the best care possible for people.”