What you can do

Racism is not something healthcare staff should have to tolerate and there are various options for addressing it when it arises. As a medical student, if you are the victim of racism from a patient, there are several things to do:

Firstly, it can help to make a draft statement of what was said or done to you with verbatim quotes if possible so that there is a contemporaneous record of the incident.
If other people were present and witnessed the incident, then you should make a note of their name and job title so they can be asked for statements during any subsequent investigation.
Report the behaviour to your supervising consultant so it can be investigated and dealt with by senior medical staff and management.
Racist comments may not come from an apparently calm patient as an isolated insult as in our case above. Instead, it can rear its head in the context of an already angry patient who is complaining about other aspects of care. If the patient shows signs of agitation or anger it is important to protect yourself.
Depending on the nature of the incident some patients may get a verbal warning. However others may be required to sign a behaviour contract or receive a formal warning letter. An example of this in action can be seen in North Bristol Trust’s “Red Card to Racism” campaign. This means patients abusing staff will be challenged and warned, leading to a ‘yellow card’. If the behaviour is repeated they then receive a final red card in which treatment would be withdrawn as soon as is safe to do so.
In some cases, racist abuse of staff may require police involvement.

MDU advice

The MDU adviser assured the medical student that regardless of the patient student dynamic, it would absolutely not prevent him from reporting his experience of racism. Patients cannot rely on the doctor or student patient relationship to shield them should they racially abuse NHS staff or students.

In the first instance, the student was advised to raise the incident with his supervising consultant so that they could support the member and discuss with senior colleagues and management how to tackle the issue. The student called back a few days later to confirm that the patient had been given a written warning about the incident.

What should I do if I encounter racism from a patient?

Learn and develop with the MDU

Dr Ellie Mein

What should I do if I encounter racism from a patient?