The data shows calls related to North West (NW) members, have surged by 116% and are the highest region in England.    

Mirroring this increase in calls, is the data from the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) report which shows staff from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds are reporting incidents taking place in the workplace.  In March 2024, 18.8% of BME staff reported incidents from patients and family members, rising to 28.4% in March 2025. From their fellow colleagues in the same period, this rose from 23.2% to 31.3%.* 

Regional Director for the RCN in the North West, Simon Browes, said: “This is certainly a trend we are seeing through the type of cases we are receiving; it’s a disgrace and truly, upsetting. 

“What is incredibly unhelpful is the government and politicians’ use of anti-migrant rhetoric, it’s simply putting hard working staff in the firing line. Every single ethnic minority nursing professional deserves to go to work without fear of being abused.” 

During 2025, ethnic minority nursing staff across the UK reported to the RCN:  

• A manager saying, ‘then you shouldn’t have come to the UK’, after an RCN member had made a leave request which had been unfairly denied, with the manager putting undue restrictions on when they could take leave.  
• An employer failing to take action after an RCN member had been racially abused consistently by a patient, including referring to the member as a ‘creature’ and mocking their name and accent.  
• A member of staff telling an RCN member ‘I want to remind you that you’re not one of us’.  
• A patient and their family repeatedly refusing care from an RCN member, saying they didn’t want ‘people like her’ treating their family and calling the member and their colleagues ‘slaves’.
• A member of staff making numerous racist remarks directed at an RCN member and their colleagues, including saying about black people that ‘you can only see their teeth when it is dark’.  

“Our health and care system only functions because of nursing staff of every ethnicity, nationality and faith,” said Mr Browes.   

“Employers simply must do better at creating safe work environments. They should work with trade unions to develop stronger mechanism to protect staff in the first place, and that whistleblowers are genuinely empowered to speak without fear of intimidation.” 

Alongside these challenges, some RCN members are also facing a fight to even work in the NHS and care sector after the immigration salary threshold for health and care worker visas increased from £23,200 to £25,000 earlier this year. This closes band 3 roles in the NHS to international recruitment in England. Staff employed on the first salary point of Band 3 are just £63 short of the new salary threshold and as a result, impacted staff are unable to renew their visas, change employers, or change their visa type. 

The RCN has raised concerns that this decision has been taken without an assessment of the impact on health and care services which are reliant on internationally recruited staff.  

In the NW, there is a member-led multicultural group who are working together to stand against racism and discrimination in the NW by using members lived experiences, encouraging organisations to be anti-racist and with the support of allies and nationally the RCN has set up an anti-racism subgroup of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.   
 
“The powerful voices coming through these groups will help inform and drive the RCN’s agenda to tackle racism, but it does take a strong person to be able to stand up to their organisation, when racing discrimination from mangers, colleagues and patients, and it’s ultimately down to employers to prioritise tackling racism and work with trade unions to develop stronger mechanisms to protect staff.” concluded Mr Browes.  
 
Ends

Notes to Editors

• Since 2022, the RCN has recorded the monthly average of ethnic minority nursing staff across the UK reporting incidents of racial abuse or discrimination who work across the NHS, independent health and social care sectors:

Nationally: 

North West: 

• The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES), which requires NHS trusts to self-assess against 9 indicators of workplace experience and opportunity, shows that in the North West 19.4% (around 43,685 nurses) are from a non-white background working in the region.  This does not account for the many thousands also working in the independent sector where data is not recorded.   
• *WRES reports that for indicators 5 and 6, which report on staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff, patients, relatives or the public, that there was a national increase as highlighted in the release above. 
• The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is the voice of nursing across the UK and is the largest professional union of nursing staff in the world. The RCN promotes the interest of nurses and patients on a wide range of issues and helps shape health care policy by working closely with the UK government and other national and international institutions, trade unions, professional bodies, and voluntary organisations.
• For further information, please contact RCN Regional Communications Managers, Danielle Scapens (Mon-Wed) on 01204 552479, email on danielle.scapens@rcn.org.uk Kelly Dooley (Wed-Fri) on 01204 552426, email on kelly.dooley@rcn.org.uk
• For out of hours enquiries please contact the RCN press office at 020 7647 3633 or email mediateamhq@rcn.org.uk