Rising racism against doctors: The devastating impact and what is being done about it

Stock image. iStock.com/ FatCamera

By Erin Dean

Amid a recent surge of far-right extremism and racially-motivated hate crimes in the UK, racism directed at doctors and other medical staff is also on the rise. Experts say urgent action is needed to prevent further harmful consequences for clinicians and healthcare.

Dr Karim Salem can remember the shock when a patient refused to be cared for by him. But for the anaesthetist registrar in the Midlands, what compounded the impact for him was not just the racist comment, but that his consultant suggested he take a break when they reached that patient.

“I felt terrible about what this patient had said, but I think the most disappointing part was that my consultant was almost aiding and abetting it,” says Salem, Midlands member of the national executive committee for the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, a union for hospital doctors.

“I was able to do the majority of the list, but when it came to this person, I had to go on my lunch break, and that's unacceptable. This is a multicultural, multinational organisation, providing expert care. I was a very experienced anaesthetist, and the consultant should have said if the patient didn’t want my care he could leave.”