HSE staff from immigrant backgrounds reluctant to report racism due to lack of action

Ken Foxe

HSE workers from immigrant backgrounds are reluctant to report racist abuse because managers sometimes take ineffective action or none at all.

Internal assessments said that discriminatory behaviours against non-white staff were prevalent based on the available evidence.

It said ethnic diversity was increasing rapidly across most clinical services in the HSE, but not all managers had experience in dealing with issues around race.

An equality impact assessment said: “Staff report reluctance to report racist incidents and near-misses as management action sometimes ineffective or non-existent.”

The document also said there was a lack of supports for staff from overseas outside the workplace as they had no “close family members in the country.”

The assessment said diversity training for managers was becoming more widely available but would reach only a small proportion of the HSE's roughly 10,000 managers.

A meeting of the HSE’s cultural diversity network last October said the health service needed “stronger, clearer messaging” to show there was zero tolerance for racism.

A message from one healthcare worker had been shared across the organisation by senior management.

In it, the staff member said they did not want to make any complaint about colleagues but said remarks about staff from abroad were common.

Their email said: “I heard it so often from frontline native staff … praising me as different from others from my country of origin or other foreigners.”

The diversity network said it would be helpful to send out similar messages in future.

However, the minutes noted: “Concerns were raised that the message lacks actionable follow-up and accountability mechanisms.”

The meeting was also told the HSE’s policy on violence, harassment and aggression was too broad and lacked specific measures to deal with racism.

Members said many of the recommendations from an equality assessment relating to cultural diversity and racism had not been incorporated into the final policy.

A note said: “Members emphasised the need for proactive, not reactive approaches to racism.”

The diversity network meeting heard that staff felt “unsupported and uncertain” about how to deal with issues around ethnicity and race.

“Clearer guidance is needed on how to call out microaggressions and overt racism safely and supportively,” the minutes said.

A meeting in December heard how there were 126 nationalities represented in the HSE workforce.

The minutes explained how some staff members took part in local radio interviews to raise awareness about diversity.

However, despite some encouragement, even that had led to some “negative feedback from the general public.”

Asked about the records, a spokesperson said the HSE was the largest employer in Ireland and one of its most culturally diverse.

They said: “We are proud of the organisation’s diverse workforce, all of whom are critical for the provision of services for patients across Ireland.

“We are deeply grateful to international workers who have chosen to move their lives and families to Ireland to work with the HSE and to help provide essential care and support for patients.”

The spokesperson said they were committed to creating a safe environment and that abuse in the workplace was not accepted or tolerated.