Western Trust condemns racial abuse of healthcare staff

Senior officials at the Western Health Trust have condemned recent racist attacks on staff.

In a joint statement, senior clinicians and managers also criticised the racial abuse of employees.

Chief executive Neil Guckian told a trust board meeting at the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen this week that he was “disheartened” to learn of the abuse some colleagues had faced.

“We condemn this in the strongest possible terms,” Mr Guckian said.

International colleagues, he said, were integral to the trust’s delivery of services.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme on Friday, Mr Guckian said they had noticed a stark increase in racial abuse of staff in recent months.

He said the trust felt the need to issue a statement following a “particularly unsavoury incident” in Fermanagh, which is being investigated by the police.

He did not give details of the incident.

“The health and social services in Northern Ireland – the Western Trust particularly – would be decimated if we didn’t have our international staff,” Mr Guckian said.

He said they had attracted some of the best people in the world to work here.

“As an employer with one of the most diverse workforces west of the Bann, we do all we can to support our staff,” he said.

“We have a really active ethnically diverse staff network, but we are still learning about the difficulties they go through daily.”

Mr Guckian said recent incidents, including violent scenes in Ballymena which the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) branded “racist thuggery” in June, and attacks on vehicles and homes in September were deeply concerning.

“This is not just a Western Trust issue; this is a worldwide issue,” he said.

“It is really important for me that Northern Ireland does not get the name of being a racist country.”

He said that could be avoided if the community stands together.

Mr Guckian said it was “absolutely unacceptable” for people to exhibit racist behaviour in health and social care settings and, if they needed to, they would involve the police.

In a statement, the chair of the trust’s ethnically diverse staff network, Roshin Rahman, also condemned recent incidents of racial abuse and said it affected staff well-being and morale.

“Our staff dedicate themselves to serving our patients and their families, often in the most challenging circumstances, and they deserve to feel safe and supported in our communities,” she said.

“Racism has no place in our hospitals or communities, and any racially motivated abuse or violence directed at staff and their families will not be tolerated.

“Such acts are damaging to our staff’s sense of safety, dignity and well-being, and they also affect our teams collectively.”

The trust has pledged to support staff affected by hate crime, including racial abuse, and said it would work alongside the police and other agencies to address this.