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Trust investigating offensive comments by senior manager

Published on: 29 Aug 2024

A trust is investigating after videos emerged showing one of its senior managers making apparently racist and sexist remarks with colleagues on a work call

The recordings of the meeting of a team of Medway Foundation Trust staff have been seen by HSJ and discussed among campaigners on social media.

They show the senior manager, who is a director but not on the trust’s board, chatting with colleagues while waiting to begin a meeting, which they appear to be leading.

In one video, the participants are waiting to hear from a new colleague, and one of them says she has just eaten a KitKat chocolate bar.

As the senior manager introduces the new colleague – who appears to have a south Asian heritage – they say: “While we are all talking chocolate, can we just introduce…” then names the new colleague and their role. The colleague responds briefly to introduce themselves, and adds: “I’m also chocolate, apparently.”

While the remarks have been interpreted by campaigners as racist, HSJ has been unable to contact the individual concerned and it is unclear whether the remark was intended as a reference to the colleague’s ethnicity.

HSJ is not naming the senior manager for legal reasons.

In the other video, the participants are joking about people’s character, and when someone asks about how “nice girls” are regarded, the senior manager says: “If you are a nice girl, you are frigid.” One or two of his colleagues seem to laugh briefly, but some appear shocked and one says: “That’s a bit rough” and someone tells the senior manager: “You are so un-PC [politically correct].”

The senior manager goes on to say: “No one likes a nice girl.”

HSJ is not publishing the videos because the other participants would be identified.

However Professor Partha Kar, a leading campaigner against racism in the NHS, who was sent the videos, said on X, formerly Twitter, that they were “astonishing examples of sexism and racism”. He had been told staff felt concerns could not be raised internally “due to fear of reprisals”, he said.

Professor Kar, who has a south Asian background, and is a medical consultant at a different hospital trust, has also been engaging with the trust about the issue.

Asked about the comments in the videos, trust chief executive Jayne Black said in a statement to HSJ: ‘’Racism and sexism are totally unacceptable and not in line with our values.

“We encourage staff to speak up and raise any concerns about unacceptable behaviours, supported by our Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and Champions. Our anti-discrimination statement clearly sets out our ongoing efforts to promote and embed equality and diversity in all areas of our work.

“We are aware of the concerns raised and are following our processes and procedures.’’

In the wake of anti-immigration riots earlier this summer, NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard called on NHS leaders to “show in your actions that when we say we have zero tolerance of racism towards our patients or colleagues, in whatever form it takes, we really mean it – even when it is difficult or uncomfortable”.