The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has condemned health leaders and politicians for allowing racism to ‘flourish’ in the NHS, after new figures show more than 21,000 incidents of racist abuse were reported by nursing staff across the UK over the last four years, surging by 78% in that time.
The shocking figures, which the RCN says are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, were released on the second day of its annual Congress and come from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to NHS Trusts and Health Boards across the UK. The new figures come as the College reveals that calls to its own advice line from ethnic minority nursing staff across the UK, seeking advice after being racially abused or discriminated against in the workplace, rose by 70% between 2022 and 2025. Calls to the advice line include nursing staff reporting that:
- A patient and their family had racially abused an RCN member, stating that they didn’t want Black people caring for their daughter.
- An RCN member observing Ramadan and praying during shifts reported repeatedly hearing racist comments about Muslim staff and how they shouldn’t be allowed to pray.
- An RCN member having a hot drink thrown in their face and being racially abused by a patient.
- A senior colleague racially abusing an RCN member, saying openly that they don’t like Indian people.
- A colleague shouting at an RCN member that ‘we don't have people of your colour here’.
In 2025, nursing staff reported 6,812 incidents of racial abuse while working in NHS Trusts and Health Boards across the UK, rising from 3,652 in 2022. The racist incidents became so frequent in 2025 that a member of nursing staff was reporting a new case of racist abuse every 77 minutes across the UK.
However, the RCN is warning that this is just the tip of the iceberg, both due to underreporting by NHS Trusts and Health Boards, and nursing staff themselves.
The situation is far worse than the FOI figures suggest, with dozens of the trusts and health boards that did respond not having reportable data on racist incidents, while others shared implausibly low figures or outright rejected the request.
Speaking from Liverpool, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said the fundamental failure of NHS Trusts and Health Boards to sufficiently collect data on racist abuse amounts to a policy of ‘don’t know, don’t care’ by health leaders.
Based on the NHS Trusts in England who were able to provide data on incidents against nursing staff, the RCN estimates that the likely true figure of reported incidents should have been well over 40,000 across the last four years, if all NHS Trusts had effective reporting systems in place. This is the equivalent of a member of nursing staff reporting a case every 51 minutes. However, this doesn’t account that many nursing staff will not report incidents due to a lack of faith in their employer to act against it, fear of retaliation, or not bothering due to the culture of racial abuse being so normalised.
The RCN is urging health leaders and governments across the UK to ‘get a grip’ of the crisis by delivering standardised and streamlined incident reporting across NHS employers, recording staff role, work area and ethnicity of the person reporting the racist abuse. This would allow NHS Trusts to spot patterns, areas of risk and implement proactive prevention measures to stop future cases.
The nursing union has also said that NHS Trusts and Health Boards need to develop far more comprehensive protocols on what action will be taken upon receiving reports of racial abuse. This is especially critical as from October, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, NHS Trusts will be liable for harassment of their own staff from third parties such as patients or their families, unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it happening.
The RCN has consistently criticised the use of anti-migrant rhetoric by politicians, saying it has helped to embolden racist behaviour. The College also said the UK government was making a bad situation worse by ‘scapegoating’ migrant nursing staff after changing the rules on Indefinite Leave to Remain.
Responding to the findings published on the second day of RCN Congress, RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Professor Nicola Ranger, said:
“These findings show a catastrophic rise in the racist abuse faced by nursing staff. It is a disgrace, and perhaps just as bad is the fact that many NHS Trusts and Health Boards cannot even tell us how many staff have been on the receiving end. It amounts to a policy of ‘don’t know, don’t care’.
“Nursing staff are the lifeblood of our NHS and social care too, made up of every nationality and ethnicity, coming together to care for patients every day. They are a shining example of a successful, multi-cultural modern United Kingdom, and they deserve better than for this disgusting racism and abuse to flourish and become so normalised.
“Our colleagues are being let down by health leaders who are failing in their duty to keep them safe at work and by politicians who cynically play communities off each other for political gain.
“As employers, NHS Trusts and Health boards must be uncompromising in challenging this vile abuse from patients and where it does occur ensure staff are supported to report it. Across all the NHS, we need a standardised method of recording incidents of racial abuse which includes data on the staff group, work areas and ethnicity of the staff member making the report. We cannot hope to stamp out racism in our health service while health leaders are in the dark over the scale of the crisis.”
