Staff working at a mental health unit experienced ‘racism’ both from patients and fellow colleagues, a new review has revealed.
Park House is a mental health unit at North Manchester General Hospital, run by the troubled Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH). The unit was investigated amid concerns about its culture, treatment and discriminatory practices affecting staff.
The review, carried out by GMMH, found racism was ‘present within cultural and social structures, systems and within our organisation’. Ethnically-diverse staff were found to have felt unsafe because of ‘racial abuse from patients and that abuse has not been dealt with effectively resulting in loss of faith in the system’.
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Along with abuse from patients, the staff ‘felt they have experienced fewer opportunities in relation to career progression resulting in a lack of representation in senior leadership roles’. They also ‘felt they experienced disproportionate disciplinary action at higher rates compared to their white counterparts’.
A ‘fear over no action being taken or fear of retribution’ was found to have led staff to be ‘unable to raise concerns’, the review concluded. Staff also felt ‘generally excluded and unwelcome which has led to a perception of divisions between wards’, said GMMH.
“The review focused on listening to and hearing the lived experiences of people that work at Park House,” the findings read, published last week. “It is clear that our ethnically diverse staff have experienced inequalities in the form of racism.
“We recognise that racism is not only an individual issue but is also present within cultural and social structures, systems and within our organisation… The review did not find that there was an open culture where unacceptable behaviours are challenged and addressed."
"This initial review is only the start of the work that lies ahead, and we are truly committed to engaging with staff on our road to becoming an anti-racist organisation," continued the report. "We know that this will take a lot of hard work and we are prepared to do what it takes to do better."
Bill McCarthy, chair of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Following concerns raised in relation to culture, care and treatment, and discriminatory practice, including racism and a fear of speaking up at Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s (GMMH) North Manchester inpatient unit, Park House, a responsive review was commissioned.
"One of the key questions to answer included: “Is there a culture in which unacceptable behaviours are challenged and addressed including discriminatory behaviour and practice, specifically racial discrimination?”
“We are thankful to our many staff that shared their insight and personal experiences. We do not underestimate how difficult and potentially traumatic this process can be. It is clear that our ethnically diverse staff have experienced inequalities in the form of racism.
"We recognise that racism is not only based on individual bias but is also present within cultural and social structures and systems and within institutions. The fact that these inequalities have continued at our organisation is unacceptable, and for that we are truly sorry."
The chairman continued: “As part of our work towards becoming an anti-racist organisation we have been working with NHS England and NHS Improvement supporting the development of the Patient Carers Race Equity Framework (PCREF). In testing our approach, we have chosen to implement the framework through our Advancing Equity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25.
“To further support this we will establish an Anti-Racism Steering Group and continue to work in partnership with our Black Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Network and members of our ethnically diverse community to co-produce our anti-racism action plan that will set out the actions required to roll out the PCREF across the organisation and help us drive forward improvements in our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES).”
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The internal review focused on Park House but there are concerns that ‘these experiences are reflective in other parts of the organisation’, GMMH has said after discussions with its own Black Asian Minority Ethnic Staff Network.
Fran Fenton, the Chair of GMMH’s Black Asian Minority Ethnic Staff Network, added: “This review focused on Park House; however, we know that people in other areas report the same experiences, and these reports are supported by the information produced for our WRES. I am pleased that the trust has listened to the staff at Park House and acknowledged their experiences.
"The anti-racism statement is powerful, but it is only a statement now we must move forward and make the change happen. It is essential that any action we take, not only directly supports those at Park House but also supports our commitment to all those people that work and train at our organisation.
"As an employer, service provider and educator we will strive to make every effort to understand and influence the wider system and societal factors impacting on mental health racial inequalities.”
The review findings come just weeks after it was found that a nurse at a different GMMH-run unit had been 'racist' towards a fellow staff member. Neill Antony Gold was named in a report from a misconduct hearing, held and published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The hearing heard how Mr Gold had called a colleague ‘a foreign c***’, mimicking their pronunciation of a ward name, and demanding they ‘speak English properly’ over the course of the rant. Neill Gold was a nurse at the Edenfield Centre, a troubled inpatient facility exposed in an explosive Panorama programme last year, which featured allegations of staff abusing vulnerable, mentally ill patients.
The council’s fitness to practise committee held the tribunal from May 15 to May 25, resulting in the mental health nurse being stricken off and receiving a suspension order. The report reads how as well as calling multiple co-workers ‘c***s’, Mr Gold abandoned wards while on duty without informing the necessary managers, and walked out of wards with the medication keys which ‘should never be taken off a unit due to them being critical in delivering patient care’.
He also asked a colleague to ‘forge his signature’ on official paperwork.
Numerous investigations – police, independent and internal – sprang up, uncovering sweeping concerns about the beleaguered trust’s culture and the fundamental safety of its users. Concerns were also raised by independent investigators that the Edenfield Centre had it's own leadership style which leaked out to other parts of the trust as staff within the unit moved out to different jobs.
