Racist incidents reported by NHS staff have doubled in five years

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton has today revealed that the number of racist incidents reported by NHS staff has doubled to almost 500 a year in the past five years.

A freedom of information request submitted by Scottish Liberal Democrats to Scotland’s health boards has revealed that:

• Racist incidents reported by NHS staff has increased by 117% in the past five years, from 213 incidents in 2018/19 to 437 in 2022/23.

• There has been a 50% increase in the past two years.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“I makes me very sad to think that hardworking NHS staff or vulnerable patients could face racial abuse.

“The fact that incidents have risen sharply in the past five years should be a shot across the bows of anyone who thinks that Scotland is immune to this kind of appalling behaviour.

“Ministers and health bosses must ensure that reporting procedures are up to scratch and that all staff know what to do when confronted by racist incidents. Everyone should feel secure and supported in their place of work, especially when that place of work is a place of healing and recovery.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats are putting forward positive and practical plans to fix our NHS. We would bring forward a new strategy to retain staff and tackle burnout, create a world-beating system to tackle Scotland’s mental health crisis, and scrap the billion pound takeover of social care so that can be spent instead on the community staff and services that enable people to leave hospital.”