Racist incidents reported by Scottish NHS staff double in five years

The number of racist incidents reported by NHS staff has doubled to more than 400 a year in the past five years, according to new figures.

In 2022/23 there have been 437 incidents, up from 213 in 2018/19.

The figure for 2022/23 is up on 2021/22 when NHS staff reported 384 racist incidents.

The data came from 12 of Scotland’s 14 health boards as two were not able to provide the information.

The figures were obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats through a Freedom of Information request.

The party’s leader and health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “It makes me very sad to think that hardworking NHS staff or vulnerable patients could face racial abuse.

“The fact that incidents have risen sharply in the past five years should be a shot across the bows of anyone who thinks that Scotland is immune to this kind of appalling behaviour.

“Ministers and health bosses must ensure that reporting procedures are up to scratch and that all staff know what to do when confronted by racist incidents.

“Everyone should feel secure and supported in their place of work, especially when that place of work is a place of healing and recovery.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats are putting forward positive and practical plans to fix our NHS.

“We would bring forward a new strategy to retain staff and tackle burnout, create a world-beating system to tackle Scotland’s mental health crisis, and scrap the billion pound takeover of social care so that can be spent instead on the community staff and services that enable people to leave hospital.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “There is no place for racism or any other form of discrimination in the NHS – or anywhere else.

“We expect all health boards to ensure any reported incidents are taken seriously and fully investigated.

“We have a programme of work under way to integrate anti-racist/anti-discriminatory approaches and develop networks of allies across the NHS.

“We also established the NHS ethnic minority forum in 2021 and are working with the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights to develop anti-racist training resources for NHS staff.”