A Lincolnshire doctor (Professor Tanweer Ahmed) has won a claim that he suffered racism in the NHS and looks set to receive significant damages, we read.
His case highlights the issue of less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, that many medical workers face in the NHS.
Professor Ahmed joined the trust as the director of Lincolnshire Clinical Research Facility in 2003. He was promoted to Director of Research Innovation and chaired the BAME staff network.
A colleague complained of harassment against him, including that he told her that she was no longer ‘allowed to get pregnant’; which argued was a joke and that other allegations were based on hearsay. The trust dismissed him. .
In his defence Professor Ahmed argued that these claims were retaliation for his previous concerns on her performance. He said her allegations lacked proper foundation and supporting evidence and that HR should have dismissed them. Instead, he believed he was dismissed due to his Pakistani background and faith.
He also argued that the investigation was flawed, which the Tribunal accepted. Only witnesses that supported the allegations against him were questioned. one witness was asked about Prof Ahmed’s “English or his culture” and “anything around religion?”. The investigation report said that no further disciplinary action was needed but HR overruled this and predicted that he would ‘play the race card’.
Despite Professor Ahmed and his colleagues claiming that the allegations were simply ‘laughable’, the Trust dismissed him for gross misconduct.
Not only did the Employment Tribunal find this unfair but it found that the NHS had failed to put forward any logical reason why the matter had escalated that far and, based on the ‘burden of proof’ rules, gave Professor Ahmed the benefit of the doubt in deciding that racism was the reason.
The NHS has been under scrutiny after the recent BMA report on racial inequality. It illustrated the issue of racism in the NHS and the wider medical profession. It found that 76% of respondents had faced racism at least once during their employment, with 71% admitting to not reporting their experiences. This was primarily due to fears of being negatively labelled by management. These statistics demonstrate the severity of the issue.
Racial discrimination is prohibited under section 9 of the Equality Act 2010 and employers could face legal action if they have racially discriminated their employees.
Recent reports on BAME (Black Asian and Ethnic Minorities) NHS workers revealed that 76% of respondents had faced racism in the NHS at least once during their employment, with 71% not reporting their experiences