Publish date: 7 August 2024
August 2024
Dear colleagues, friends and members of our community
We are living through a period of extraordinary unrest, with a level of violence that is hard for most of us to stomach or understand. For this reason, we are reaching out to you, our fellow co-workers, and members of the public to help us keep our patients, communities, colleagues, and healthcare professionals, safe. Our healthcare workers spend their lives caring for every person in Blackpool, Fylde, Wyre and beyond who needs care, whether this is delivered in a hospital or community.
As a result of the recent national unrest some of our NHS workers now feel afraid and unwelcome because of the flare ups of racist behaviour, this is both upsetting for us all and not acceptable to anyone.
Here in Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, we are proud to have a workforce that represents over 76 known nationalities, nearly 20% of our workforce is made up of colleagues from a Black, Asian, or minority ethnicity. Since NHS was founded in 1948, we have relied on our overseas colleagues and this will continue into the future. Our international colleagues, care for our communities, teach, and nurture our colleagues into the professionals they are, the professionals who care for us all.
The community we know, and love welcomes diversity and is held in high esteem for the warm northern welcome it extends to all who live and visit us. It is for these reasons that so many international colleagues over the years have been so proud to work here and to make it their home.
Abuse received by any colleague, regardless of colour, religion, sexuality, or disability, is felt by us all, and the family that is the NHS will not tolerate discrimination in any form. We operate a zero-tolerance approach as we believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and we are committed to fostering a culture where everyone feels valued and supported, regardless of their background, race, sex, disability, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or any other protected characteristic.
We want to offer you the very best care we possibly can. To do this, our colleagues must feel safe both in and out of work. We ask you to respect this. To our community, we ask that you continue to show us the affection that you normally display. We truly are thankful for your support at this difficult time, it means a lot to us all.
To the minority who are intent on being abusive, we will not tolerate such behaviour and our Zero Tolerance approach means that every allegation of a sexual offence, bullying, harassment or discrimination will be treated seriously. The Trust will use its policies and procedures to address any of these incidents and allegations, including reporting such incidents to the police and where necessary we will follow this through to prosecution.
Let’s hope this period of discontent passes us by quickly, but also hope the lessons we learn about keeping each other safe, respected, and cared for last a lot longer.
Maggie Oldham Maggy Heaton Prof Anoop Chauhan
Chief Executive Staff Side Chair Chair of Joint Local Negotiating Committee
