Broken mirrors: a trainee's experience of racism in the workplace

Abstract

Background Racism involves a group who have the power to carry out systematic discrimination through the institutional policies and practices of the society and by shaping the cultural beliefs and values that support those racist policies and practices.1 A racist is one who supports those policies through their actions or interactions or expression of ideas.2 Racism in the NHS has been highlighted in both literature and by several institutions for several decades but there still exists a degree of denial that racism exists within the medical profession.3 Here, the experience of a trainee during a shared surgery is detailed — including the detrimental impact of the poor feedback he received — and suggestions are offered to tackle racism on GP training programmes.