Racism allowed to ‘flourish’ in NHS, says RCN

Warning: this story features details of racist abuse of nursing staff

The RCN has condemned health leaders and politicians for allowing racism to “flourish” in the NHS, as figures show the huge numbers of incidents of abuse reported by nursing staff.

In the past four years, nursing staff reported racism at work more than 21,000 times, a 78% increase in that time, according to figures obtained by the RCN.

The figures come from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made by the RCN to NHS trusts and health boards across the UK.

In 2025, nursing staff reported 6,812 incidents of racial abuse while working in NHS trusts and health boards across the UK, rising from 3,652 in 2022. Racist incidents became so frequent in 2025 that a member of nursing staff was reporting a new case of racist abuse every 77 minutes across the UK.

We’re warning the situation is far worse than the FOI figures suggest. Dozens of trusts and health boards that did respond have no reportable data on racist incidents, while others shared implausibly low figures or rejected the request outright.

The figures are also likely to be a significant underestimate as many nursing staff will not report incidents due to a lack of faith in their employer to take action, fear of retaliation, or not bothering due to the culture of racial abuse being so normalised.

NHS trusts and health boards must develop far more comprehensive protocols on what action will be taken upon receiving reports of racial abuse. From October, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, NHS trusts will be liable for harassment of their own staff by patients or their families, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it happening.

Calls to the RCN advice line about racist abuse or discrimination rose by 70% between 2022 and 2025. Those reports from nursing staff include patients saying they didn’t want black people caring for their daughter, and abuse from colleagues based on skin colour and nationality.

We’re also urging health leaders and governments across the UK to deliver standardised and streamlined incident reporting across NHS employers, recording staff role, work area and ethnicity of the person reporting the racist abuse. This would allow NHS trusts to spot patterns, areas of risk and implement prevention measures to stop future cases.

Responding to the findings, which were published during RCN Congress, our General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said: “These findings show a catastrophic rise in the racist abuse faced by nursing staff. It is a disgrace, and perhaps just as bad is the fact that many NHS trusts and health boards cannot even tell us how many staff have been on the receiving end. It amounts to a policy of ‘don’t know, don’t care’.

“Nursing staff are the lifeblood of our NHS and social care too, made up of every nationality and ethnicity, coming together to care for patients every day. They are a shining example of a successful, multicultural modern United Kingdom, and they deserve better than for this disgusting racism and abuse to flourish and become so normalised.”

We’re also continuing to criticise the use of anti-migrant rhetoric by politicians, which has helped to embolden racist behaviour. The Westminster government has made a bad situation worse by scapegoating migrant nursing staff, after changing the rules on Indefinite Leave to Remain.

“Our colleagues are being let down by health leaders who are failing in their duty to keep them safe at work and by politicians who cynically play communities off each other for political gain,” said Nicola.

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues covered in this article, you can find support on our website.