The Royal College of Nursing cites ‘racist jokes’ as an example of discrimination that can justify the withdrawal of medical care.
The United Kingdom’s Royal College of Nursing has updated its guidance to allow medical professionals to refuse to treat patients perceived as racist, a response to violent riots that have occurred in the country over the last two weeks.
The riots were spurred by a late-July knife attack that killed three young girls at a dance party. The attacker was a teenage boy whose parents are Rwandan immigrants.
“These scenes around the country are nothing short of despicable racism — they have no place in our society,” the Royal College of Nursing general secretary and chief executive Nicola Ranger said in a press release. “As an anti-racist organisation, the [Royal College of Nursing] will take a lead part in tackling this hatred.”
The Royal College of Nursing is a professional body and trade union for medical staff with over 500,000 members — including nurses, midwives, assistant practitioners, and students — across 12 countries and regions. The updated guidance recognizes “discriminatory behaviour, including racism” as a situation that “may justify” withdrawing care or refusing to treat a patient.
An example of “discrimination,” according to a Royal College of Nursing website, is “racist jokes.” Other instances where the Royal College of Nursing permits denial of care include lack of appropriate equipment or training.
“Migrant nursing staff are precious members of our communities, hardwired into the very DNA of our health and care services,” Ranger said in the press release. “Our international colleagues are welcome, valued and owed a debt of gratitude.”
The guidance was updated the day that health secretary Wes Streeting condemned “mindless thuggery by far-Right agitators in our country” and suggested patients exhibiting “racist abuse” should be turned away.
“I will not tolerate, under any circumstances, NHS or social care staff in any health or care setting being subjected to intimidation, harassment or racist abuse,” Streeting said, adding that “people who are abusing NHS staff can be turned away, and should be turned away, if that is the way that they are treating our staff.”
He made the comments after rioters threw rocks at two taxis, each carrying a Filipino nurse en route to report for emergency duty at a protest site in Sunderland, according to Nursing Times.
The new refusal of care guidance may contradict the Royal College of Nursing’s previously stated policies. The organization recognizes “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion” as a “principle of nursing,” stating that staff “provide compassionate care recognising the diversity of each person and their cultural needs.”
The organization’s document titled “Human Rights and Nursing” affirms that “the first priority of nurses and their teams is the care of their patients.” The document also expresses that the organization “strongly supports the ideals and principles” in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states in Article 25 that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including. . . medical care and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of. . . sickness.”
Refusing to treat patients exhibiting racist conduct is not the first “anti-racist” policy that the Royal College of Nursing has adopted. In April, it held its first “anti-racism summit” that focused on “the plan to transform the RCN into an anti-racist organisation.”
In May, the Royal College of Nursing released a “Group Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy” that committed to providing “mandatory learning and development” for accredited representatives to “enhance their knowledge and understanding of the wider EDI agenda including intersectionality and anti-racism.”
The organization has the “Inclusion Café,” a resource designed to “build, source and share tools and techniques that help to support our own leadership and accountability in creating inclusive workplace cultures.” In its guidance on “workplace civility,” the Inclusion Café states “subtle forms” of “incivility” include “micro-aggressions such as ‘dirty looks’, being interrupted unnecessarily, not being listened to or being spoken to in a patronising or condescending tone.”
The Royal College of Nursing did not respond to a request for comment by National Review.
Violent riots erupted in the United Kingdom after authorities say Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, born in the United Kingdom to Christian immigrants from Rwanda, committed a knife attack on July 29 at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport. The attacker killed three girls under age ten, and injured two adults and eight other children.
Muganwa Rudakubana’s name was initially undisclosed to the public because he was under 18, which led to speculation that he was a Muslim terrorist, sparking violent protests against immigration that have resulted in damage to mosques, hotels housing asylum seekers, and property.
Counter-protests have been similarly violent, and dangerous clashes between the two groups have occurred. The BBC reported on August 4 that roughly 300 masked people arrived shouting “Allahu Akbar” in response to a peaceful anti-immigration protest with English flags in Bolton. Although the two groups were separated by police, the demonstrators threw objects and launched fireworks at each other.
The Telegraph reported that, in Birmingham, a group of masked Muslims with Palestinian flags attacked a pub with missiles and assaulted one man, leaving him with a punctured liver.
More than 900 people have been arrested in relation to riots, and over 100 police officers have been injured.
“Whatever the apparent motivation this is not protest this is pure violence and we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or our Muslim communities,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who also condemned the riots as “far-right thuggery.”
In 2020, Starmer expressed support for Black Lives Matter and shared a photo of him taking the knee in Parliament with the caption “We kneel with all those opposing anti-Black racism.”