There has been a “noticeable” and “unacceptable” rise in racism towards NHS staff members, a new survey has found.
Research from the Society of Radiographers (SoR) reported that some staff had been called “dirty foreigners” and “monkeys”, whilst some patients had even refused treatment from non-white NHS staff.
The SoR’s survey of 381 of its members reported multiple incidences of “unconscionable” behaviour against staff,
For example, a sonographer in the Midlands, of Asian descent, said several patients had told her: “This country isn’t the same, with all those people coming over here, taking our jobs.”
She said incidents like this had become “more prevalent” and called out the “media and certain political parties” for their role in this, Sky News reports.
Paul Awah, a diagnostic radiographer originally from Nigeria but based in Bedfordshire, said racist abuse has “definitely got worse” and said the “rhetoric had changed,” with people more comfortable saying things they wouldn’t have done in the past.
Other incidents reported in the SoR survey included patients “complaining about the colour of skin of people attending them” and staff being described as “dirty foreigners” and “monkeys.”
Perhaps most shockingly, some raised incidences of patients even refusing to accept treatment from non-white staff.
A sonographer claimed on one occasion a white man refused to let them scan his pregnant wife because he did not “want anyone from any ethnic background touching my woman.”
A black radiographer also recalled an incident when a patient told them “black people frighten me” and refused to let the staff member carry out a chest X-ray on them as a result.
The findings come in the wake of discrimination against NHS staff hitting a five-year high. The latest NHS Staff Survey, published in March, found that 9.26% of workers had personally experienced discrimination in 2025.
The chief human resources and organisational development officer at NHS England, Thomas Simonssaid: “Racist abuse towards NHS staff is completely unacceptable and has no place in our health service.
“Our new national staff standards are clear that NHS organisations must take meaningful action to prevent and respond to racism, support affected staff and ensure there are clear consequences for patients who racially abuse or discriminate against NHS staff – including the option to refuse care in non-emergency situations.”