RACIAL discrimination “will push more vital staff out of the NHS” unless more is done to tackle the problem, a leading doctor has warned.
Dr Raj Padmanabhan, a consultant anaesthetist and the first chair of BMA Scotland’s Race Equality Forum, was responding to a landmark report by the BMA which found that a third of ethnic minority doctors across the UK, and 42 per cent of Black and 41% of Asian doctors in particular, have left or considered quitting as a result of prejudice in the workplace.
Of all respondents to the survey, 276 (13.6 per cent) were medics based in Scotland.
READ MORE: Thousands stranded in A&E amid record bed and nurse shortages
Dr Padmanabhan said: “First and foremost, this behaviour and some of the barriers that doctors from ethnic minorities face is simply wrong. We must condemn it and tackle it as a moral imperative.
“But it is also a real concern that, at a time when we are short of doctors and at risk of losing more to burn out and exhaustion, discriminatory behaviour will push more vital staff out of the NHS.”
The report highlights institutional barriers to career progression, especially for those who qualified in medicine overseas, dangerously low levels of reporting of racist incidents, and a growing mental health burden.
READ MORE: Scotland's radiologist shortfall set to hit 30 per cent by 2026
Respondents described patients refusing to be treated by them because their names “did not sound British”; being “viewed as a troublemaker” for reporting racism; and “continued mispronunciation” of their names.
It comes after a Scottish-specific survey in November last year found similar issues, including doctors from ethnic minorities being more likely to have to make multiple applications for post before being successfully appointed.
Dr Padmanabhan said he has since had a “productive meeting” with the Scottish Government to set out priorities such as staff training on unconscious bias and improving data collection on race in the NHS.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel