Black Lives Matter: “We Must Take Action” Says Isle Of Wight NHS Trust

“We should recognise the NHS is both part of the problem and part of the solution”, is the message from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust as it pledges to set out steps to get rid of racism in its ranks.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer in America – sparking protests all over the world including on the Isle of Wight – the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has said it stands in solidarity with its colleagues, volunteers, patients and their families from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds but that statements are not enough.

At a meeting of the trust’s board yesterday, Thursday, chair Vaughan Thomas started his report by raising an issue ‘which relates to the words ‘I can’t breathe’.

He said:

“All of us have watched the events overseas and some close to home in recent weeks with increasing concern.

“Now, the easy thing would be for the trust to respond immediately saying Black Lives Matter, and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues, volunteers, patients and their families, from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds – Black lives do matter and we do stand in solidarity but we also feel deeply that these statements alone are just not enough.

“To truly be an ally of all BAME people we must take action to tackle racism from the overt, structural forms of racism to the subtle and unconscious bias that impacts so many people every day.

“We will listen to our colleagues and patients experiences of discrimination and we will learn.

“We should recognise the NHS is both part of the problem and part of the solution.

“We will be setting out steps we will be taking as a leadership team and as an organisation over the coming weeks.

“For now, we have a simple message to people from a BAME background across the Island – there are tens of nationalities that work on the Isle of Wight and are quite a part of our diverse community at heart – we see you and we hear you and we stand with you, because black lives do matter.”

In the NHS workforce on the Island, nine per cent of staff are black, Asian or minority ethnic – against latest census data that shows only 2.7 per cent of the local population is BAME.

However, Kemi Adenubi, a non-executive director of the trust, welcomed the statement but said it needed to be turned into active support for people.

She said:

“It feels a bit remote to us because we don’t see black people being killed in the way they do in America very often and it is a big deal when it happens like that in the UK.

“But there is definitely something to be said about how we look after people in our organisation and also in their lives on the Island, where they do face racism and need a level of support and ability to recognise the organisation will be behind them.

“As a starter, that statement is very helpful but we do need to turn it into active support for people where they are experiencing problems.

“It is not just lives that matter, it is the living of those lives that matter, not the dying.”

By Louise Hill, Local Democracy Reporter