National Health Service: Workforce Race Equality Standard

Baroness Howells of St Davids Excerpts

Wednesday 24th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I think we are probably straying quite a long way from the Question, but I will certainly consider what the noble Earl said.

[Baroness Howells of St Davids (Lab)]

My Lords, I would like to put this on record so that some of the answers to the Question do not keep coming up. No self-respecting person, black or white, will accept a job that they are not capable of. No person who served the National Health Service from any Caribbean country has ever been sacked because of lack of ability. They have suffered racism, but they contributed immeasurably in the days when there were very few white people entering the service. When the Queen gave out her medals to mark the 60th year of her reign, the black community was left out. I appealed on their behalf and they were given medals. There were articles in the newspapers that showed that most of the women who went into the health service as nurses were overqualified.