‘No place for racism in NHS’ after fears raised by latest maternity review

Donna Ockenden
By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter

There is no place for racism in Nottingham’s maternity services, local political leaders have said, after patients told an ongoing review they had experienced discrimination.

Donna Ockenden is running the largest maternity review in NHS history at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH), involving more than 1,900 families.

Her latest report found some people using the services had experienced racism, discrimination and cultural insensitivity, along with a lack of translation and interpretation services.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited both Nottingham Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital in June without informing the trust in advance and found insufficient staffing levels and skills, and raised hygiene concerns.

Leaders from the trust faced questions on the latest findings from Nottinghamshire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday (July 16).

Councillor Keith Girling (Con) said: “I was surprised to see reports of racism and discrimination. I have never seen such a diverse workforce as our hospitals, with people of all religions and creeds.

“There is no place for racism anywhere, especially in a caring organisation.”

Director of Midwifery Sharon Wallis said: “Racism has a significant impact on individuals.

“We all have our unconscious bias. We have training for staff to recognise and put that aside.

“Walking in other people’s shoes should be second nature.”

The maternity scandal hadn’t affected recruitment for midwives, she added, with so many people applying that competitive interviews were recently held for the first time in three years.

Medical director Dr Manjeet Shehmar said: “The next step is holding people to account and showing that we don’t tolerate racism. It will become a professional standards issue.”

Hospital leaders also said more efforts were being made to meet community groups representing ethnic minorities.

Chief Executive Anthony May also admitted “sometimes our staff are not as kind or compassionate as we would like” – another finding of Ms Ockenden’s.

He said the trust was trying to “re-energise” improvements after the report found that progress had stalled.

Other issues raised by the report were cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals, staffing levels and morale, and slow responses to families asking for information about their care.

Councillor Bethan Eddy (Con) said: “It’s important families that feel safe and are listened to. Having a baby is petrifying – absolutely daunting.”

NUH has previously said that it takes on board all feedback and is improving in several areas.

It also maintains that maternity services are properly staffed and that effective monitoring systems are in place.

New leadership roles have been created recently which the trust says will have a positive impact.

Staff can still contact the review at [email protected], while families can also do so at [email protected].