NHS pilot uses virtual reality to tackle racism and discrimination among staff

In one scene, a black nurse called Tunde is told by his manager that personal protective equipment (PPE) was being locked away at night to prevent its theft during night shifts, during the pandemic when ethnic minorities were more likely to work these hours.

In another, an Asian female doctor called Jasmine is dismissed by an HR manager after raising a double standard regarding requests for shift changes during the pandemic over childcare, something which her white colleagues were granted.

These are some of the scenarios of discrimination depicted in a new form of training for NHS staff that has been designed to create better understanding of the experiences of colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The training, called “Walking in the shoes of …”, involves participants wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset and watching videos depicting instances of racism and discrimination by actors within an NHS setting.

The clips are based on the transcripts of 133 interviews with NHS employees describing their own experiences of racism while working, collected during the Tides study, a project by academics at Kings’ College London that researches how instances of discrimination within the NHS are related to existing health inequalities.

The training was developed after warnings that the NHS faces a mass exodus of black, Asian and minority ethnic doctors due to “persistent” and “intolerable” levels of racism in the workplace, while research shows that white nurses are twice as likely than their black and Asian colleagues to be promoted.

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Source: Guardian, 22 September 2024