HCSA today won backing from the annual trade union parliament for its stance calling for an independent review into the ethnicity pay gap in medicine rather than mere “lip service”.
Addressing this year’s digital TUC Congress, HCSA General Secretary Dr Paul Donaldson accused parts of the NHS of allowing institutional racism to continue unchallenged.
Only a proper forensic study, modelled on the successful Mend the Gap review into the gender pay gap in medicine, would be enough to challenge the current situation, he argued.
Describing the findings of the most recent Medical Workforce Race Equality Standard report as “harrowing,” Dr Donaldson explained: “The evidence from medical staff supports the accusation, one levelled by HCSA, that the blight of institutional racism is all too common in our NHS.”
Speaking in support of composite motion 10, which included HCSA’s call for a probe into the factors behind the ongoing inequality, he urged: “We need to shine a light on the significant detriment which ethnic minority doctors face which make success all the more difficult.
“We need more than positive noises and lip service, we need concrete recommendations to end this disgraceful situation.”
The motion, urging the TUC to join HCSA in lobbying government to commission an independent review, was unanimously supported by delegates to the 153rd annual congress.
Separately, HCSA’s motion urging TUC backing against an unprecedented power grab by the GMC regulator was also supported unopposed.
View the full speech below: