Highlights
- NMC chief Paul Rees said many minority ethnic nurses and midwives are today facing "1970s and 1980s style racism
- The council aims to eliminate bias and disparities from its regulatory processes by 2030
- The principles will be reviewed each year, with more organisations expected to sign up
NINE of the country's top health and social care regulators have joined forces to tackle racism in the workplace, it was announced on Wednesday (13).
The signatories include the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the Health and Care Professions Council, Social Work England, and the General Pharmaceutical, Optical, Chiropractic and Osteopathic Councils.
The announcement was made at a London event hosted by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, bringing together more than 150 board-level NHS leaders, government officials and health and care stakeholders.
The nine principles, which include naming racism, valuing lived experience, improving data collection, and committing to transparency and accountability, build on the Observatory's own Seven Principles of Anti-Racism and follow a regulatory roundtable held last year.
Professor Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said, "It marks a key landmark step towards regulating for workforce race equality across our healthcare system. True equality requires more than words; it requires intentional action. By strengthening their collective commitment to race equality, healthcare regulatory bodies are actively dismantling barriers and ensuring that our healthcare system is a place where talent thrives regardless of background.
"This is a crucial step in the journey to build a truly inclusive, high-performing culture for everyone, and we look forward to working with the regulatory bodies as they progress on this journey.”
GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said racism "affects the confidence, wellbeing, and ability" of health workers "to provide the best care for patients," calling the collective commitment "powerful."
Paul Rees, chief executive of the NMC, warned that many minority ethnic nurses and midwives are today "facing 1970s and 1980s style racism — the kind of abuse they haven't received in decades."
He added that the NMC is also developing its own anti-racism principles specifically for nursing and midwifery, due in late May, and aims to eliminate bias from its regulatory processes by 2030.
Professor Bola Owolabi of the CQC said that "fair care cannot exist where racism goes unchallenged," and that the principles represented "active, deliberate steps" to drive lasting change.
The principles are set to be reviewed annually, and further organisations are expected to sign up in the coming months, according to a statement.
