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BULLYING MORE COMMON AMONG NHS BLACK AND MINORITY


ETHNIC STAFF BLACK and minority ethnic (BME) NHS staff in England are more likely to be bullied than their white colleagues, new research has shown.


Higher percentages of BME staff said they experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from


staff, regardless of the type of Trust or geographical region in which they worked. They were also more likely to face discrimination from management than white staff, and


less likely to agree that their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.


The findings were revealed in the first report on the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard


(WRES) from the NHS Equality and Diversity Council. The WRES, introduced in 2015, aims to prompt discussions about the reasons why BME


staff often receive poorer treatment and to identify ways of tackling the problem. Of the 153 acute trusts who submitted data, 75 per cent showed a higher percentage of BME staff being bullied by fellow workers compared to their white colleagues. In the trust with the greatest disparity, 42 per cent of BME staff said they had been bullied compared to 18 per cent of white employees. Other findings reveal that in 86 per cent of acute trusts, a higher percentage of BME staff


do not believe their organisation offers equal opportunities for career progression or promotion compared to white staff. Similarly, 81 per cent of trusts reported a higher proportion of BME staff facing discrimination from a manager, team leader or colleague. In one trust 57 per cent of BME but only 12 per cent of white staff experienced this discrimination. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said the report provides “unvarnished


feedback” to every hospital trust across the country. “It confirms that while some employers have got it right, for many others these staff survey


results are both deeply concerning and a clear call to action,” he said. “As this is the first year of the WRES, it provides a transparent baseline from which each employer will now be seeking to improve.” Read the full report at tinyurl.com/zoz59oh


GMC REINFORCES STANDARDS FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS


MEDICAL students must understand the importance of patient confidentiality and behaving appropriately on social media among other professional values set out in new guidance from the GMC. The GMC and the Medical Schools Council


(MSC) have published Achieving good medical practice (tinyurl.com/zv24c3d) – a document for medical students outlining the standards and professional behaviour required before becoming a doctor after graduation. The new guidance – based on GMC core


standards in Good medical practice – comes with practical tips to help medical students apply the professional values to their studies, placements and time outside of medical school. Medical students are required to recognise the limits of their competence and be honest when they don’t know something and ask for help when needed. They are also asked to raise concerns about the safety, dignity and comfort of patients and always protect patient identifiable information. The document also provides guidance on


the use of social media where students are free to express their views but must not behave in a derogatory manner to


other users. The guidance will come into effect in


September and an e-book version will follow in 2017.


An additional piece of guidance has been published by the GMC and MSC to help medical school and university staff to manage and support students whose professional behaviour or health becomes a cause for concern. Professional behaviour and fitness to practise is aimed at supporting medical school staff in delivering student fitness to practise processes. GMC chair Professor Terence Stephenson said: “[Medical students’] studies and placements will bring them into contact with patients and members of the public who may be physically and emotionally vulnerable. Because of this, and to maintain the public’s high level of trust in doctors, they have to display higher standards of professional behaviour – both inside and outside of medical school.” The launch of the new guidance follows a


large-scale review of the existing guidance from 2009 (Medical students: professional values and fitness to practise) and involved a formal consultation with a survey of 2,500 medical student and others.


HUNDREDS OF NEW FGM CASES RECORDED EVERY


MONTH MORE than 400 new cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) are reported each month in England, with over half occurring in London. New figures revealed there were 1,242


newly recorded cases of FGM reported between January and March 2016, and a total of 2,223 attendances where FGM was identified or a related procedure carried out. The Health and Social Care Information


Centre (HSCIC) report showed 81 NHS trusts and 12 GP practices had one or more attendance for FGM during that period. Almost all information was submitted by trusts, however, with GP practices accounting for just one per cent of total attendances. Most FGM was self-reported (75 per cent)


with London accounting for 52 per cent of new cases. The vast majority of women and girls with a


known country of birth were from an eastern, northern or western African country, with Somalia accounting for a third of new cases. Other countries with a large volume of cases included Eritrea, Sudan and Nigeria. Eleven new FGM cases involved women and girls who were born in the UK, and at least seven procedures were carried out illegally in the UK. Twenty-nine affected girls were under 18, comprising two per cent of all new cases. The NHS has been required to collect data


on FGM since April 2014. Doctors in England and Wales also have a mandatory duty to report to the police FGM cases in girls under the age of 18. Read the full report on the HSCIC website.


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