Black nurse faced complaint after citing watchdog racism

A Black nurse who tried to call out alleged racism at a scandalhit regulator was targeted by a complaint, The Independent can reveal.

- REBECCA THOMAS

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), which regulates more than 800,000 nurses and midwives in the UK, was heavily criticised in a review that found it had a “toxic” and “dysfunctional” culture and had failed to address racism in its ranks. The review, which was prompted by The Independent’s reports and was published last week, warned that the safety of the public as well as nursing and midwifery staff is at risk because of flawed and delayed investigations by the NMC.

It warned of widespread allegations of racism at the NMC, which senior leaders had failed to address. It also found that the body was mishandling racism complaints against nurses and midwives. Staff told reviewers that prejudice such as racism and misogyny was leading to flawed responses to complaints against nurses.

Now a Black nurse, Neomi Bennett, has revealed that she faced a complaint submitted by a senior NMC representative after she publicly called out alleged racism on the part of the regulator. She told The Independent that being referred to her regulator for her comments while calling out racism felt like a “betrayal” and an “abuse of power”.