HSE immigrant staff reluctant to report racist abuse because action from managers 'ineffective or non-existent'

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.

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

Internal assessments said 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.

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 abuse in the workplace was not accepted or tolerated.