When I started in the NHS in March 1991, there were three South Asian Bengali nurses in my cohort. It was a unique experience being visibly different in a hospital predominantly filled with White people. There was a lot of curiosity, but I think it’s natural to be curious. Patients and colleagues were interested in where I was from, my heritage and ethnicity. I didn’t feel offended. We want to learn about one another and it’s important that we do. However, recent events have made me reflect on being a Muslim member of the community.
In July and August 2024, we saw scenes of racially motivated violence in England and Northern Ireland. What I witnessed was abhorrent, deeply upsetting and concerning. The murder of 3 children in Southport shocked our core foundations. Regardless of ethnicity, age and values, we all feel human pain. However, this grief was then used as a platform to say people of a certain background were to blame, and misinformation spread through the UK fast. Soon, we saw mosques being attacked, blatant Islamophobia and responsibility placed at the feet of immigrants. We saw people jumping on the bandwagon to protest, declaring “we don’t want Muslims here”.
This wasn’t freedom of speech; it was hatred and violence
I felt frightened. I felt fearful for my family. My daughter and nephew recently qualified as doctors. I told them to be careful when travelling to work after I’d heard about people being targeted in the streets. I told them: “Don’t stop, keep moving”. My brother is an NHS consultant, my sister is a biomedical scientist, and I was worried about them too. I worried about my husband. We had the door bolted even when we were inside. I received a message from a local group saying: be careful when you’re at the petrol station, there’s a person with a chainsaw.
During the riots, the trust I work for – Sheffield Teaching Hospitals – was so supportive and immediately understood the anxiety felt by everyone, and how triggering the events were for many of us. There was a clear message from the Chief Executive and board that any form of racism was not tolerated by our organisation and managers were quickly provided with support mechanisms to help colleagues who were worried or fearful about planned protests in Sheffield.
For example, my manager asked me if I wanted to work from home during that period, which I really appreciated. I didn’t want my colleagues to worry because I was at work, or to have extra security put in place. So, I stayed away. However, it saddened me that I felt I had to do that, and why? For people to have freedom of speech? This wasn’t freedom of speech; it was hatred and violence.
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Global majority nursing staff were targeted. A colleague of mine shaved his beard so he wouldn’t be identified as a Muslim. Other nursing staff were being taxied home. That’s the sad state we’re in.
We've devoted our entire lives to the service of others because we care about them, and this is the way we’re being treated in return.
I also worry about this affecting health outcomes. I fear there are patients who needed to attend A&E during that time and wouldn’t have felt safe to do so. Therefore, patient harm would’ve been caused by this too. People were that petrified they delayed their care. Global majority student learning would’ve been impacted too – the repercussions are wide.
You don't have to suffer in silence
Something has to change. We need to have open and honest conversations. If we’re not supporting our staff to understand equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) then something is fundamentally wrong. If we’re not leading teams and services with this in mind, ultimately patients will be harmed. Then there’s local responsibility, such as making sure there are Freedom to Speak Up Guardians within trusts.
My message to my nursing peers is: it’s natural to feel upset and scared by this experience, don’t feel guilty or weak, it’s a human response. It can open old wounds. Know you're not on your own and leaders at every level are aware and should be supportive. Reach out: there is lots of support out there locally, regionally, nationally, listening events. Have that conversation with confidence. Share any racist threats with your manager, or someone else senior you feel comfortable talking to. You don’t have to suffer in silence. This isn’t going to go away. Only by addressing, acknowledging, and reflecting, can we deal with it in the right way.
Rukeya is Head of Midwifery at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, and is the Chief Nursing and Chief Midwifery Officers' BME Strategic Advisory Group Lead for the North East and Yorkshire region.How can you challenge racism in your organisation?
- Listen to and learn from those who have been targets of racism and oppression.
- Examine and challenge your own prejudices, stereotypes and assumptions.
- Learn how to challenge oppressive remarks, behaviours, policies and institutional structures.
- If you witness discrimination, don’t be a bystander. Speak up when you witness racism against a colleague or patient.
- Utilise RCN resources on equity, diversity and inclusion.
Becoming an anti-racist organisation
At RCN Congress 2023, an emergency agenda item was brought to the hall: that this meeting of RCN Congress calls on RCN Council to ensure that the RCN is an anti-racist organisation. This resolution was passed, and since, we have been working hard to put this into action. This isn’t a quick fix and requires a huge amount of focus and participation. RCN Council has established an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee. We have also launched our EDI strategy and our first EDI conference is being held in December 2024.
