BAME staff at NHS trust told to use 'Western names'

Some staff at The University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust were told to adopt a 'Western work name', a report finds

Black and brown hospital staff were told by managers to use "Western names" as their own were too hard to pronounce, an inspection has found.

Staff at the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust were told to use different names while on duty, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

The CQC said the directive was "not acceptable".

The University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust insisted there was "no management instruction".

In a letter to the trust, the CQC said: "We were concerned to hear from staff that they have been told by line managers to adopt a 'Western work name' as the pronouncing of their name was too difficult.

"This is not acceptable.

"Individuals can only truly thrive in a work environment where they feel safe as themselves and belong, rather than having to 'fit in'."

'Judged and unwelcome'

Speaking at a UHBW board meeting on 29 July in response to the letter sent by the CQC, the trust's chief executive Robert Woolley criticised the alleged behaviour towards staff from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff as a "micro-aggression" that left staff feeling "judged and unwelcome".

"Just to make absolutely clear, there is no management instruction around that - those are isolated reports the CQC were informed about by staff themselves.

"We've been back to ask the CQC if they can give us more information about where that is happening.

"For confidentiality reasons they are unable to do so. But we have been looking in detail at this.

"We are putting additional training together. Our equality, diversity and inclusion manager is looking to launch that training and awareness in August, and we will send that trust-wide.

"It will cover all those sorts of micro-aggressive behaviours as well as the inability to respect people's given names."

The unannounced CQC inspection took place in June, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A draft inspection report is imminent and will be followed by a broader action plan from the trust in response to the concerns, before the full report is published.