I’ve complained before about the fact that the nature of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) as a state owned industry means that it, like the many failed nationalised industries in Britain’s past, runs more for the benefit of its staff than the customers. Clinic and appointment times are at the convenience of staff and not patients, key staff that a patient may need to speak to are all but completely uncontactable and complaining about bad service is a difficult task.

The NHS has to all intents and purposes no competition, it or rather its staff and management can behave in ways that would be unacceptable in the private sector. I’ve known people whose relatives have died due to NHS cock ups but the relatives didn’t start complaints because they knew deep down that nothing would happen to the staff who made the error even if a difficultly fought and draining complaint campaign ruled in their favour.

However bad the NHS is now prepare yourself for things getting even worse, especially when it comes to complaining about poor quality NHS staff or the actions of said staff. Arthur Reynolds writing in The Critic has revealed that the NHS is starting to introduce a system where panels investigating ethnic minority staff who are subject to disciplinary procedures will have to include what are being termed ‘cultural ambassadors’ to ensure that the panels are not having any unconscious bias. These ‘cultural ambassadors’, drawn from those involved in DEI NHS staff affinity groups, will be able to sit in on disciplinary panels and be in a position to influence the panels decisions including, Mr Reynolds says, ones where there is an allegation of sexual violence against a member of staff.

You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see how this system could be abused or misused. Whilst like any normal sane person I want staff disciplinary hearings to be fair to all concerned this new system is blatantly two tier in both its conception and no doubt will be in operation. I can easily see for example a situation where a White British staff member and an ethnic minority staff member if accused of similar types of misconduct will be handled significantly differently with the minority staff member being allocated an extra person, the Cultural Ambassador, to fight their corner. Heaven help for example a Jewish patient of the NHS who is treated badly by or exposed to rabid pro-’Palestinian’ propaganda from Muslim NHS staff. The chances of their complaint reaching a satisfactory conclusion for the complaining patient in this system I would say is zero. The Cultural Ambassador will go out of their way to say that the Muslim staff member did no wrong and due to the power of these Cultural Ambassadors the panel will likely agree.

Mr Reynolds said:

“Through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests I have learned a number of NHS Trusts are tasking so-called “Cultural Ambassadors” with ensuring no unconscious racial or cultural bias is influencing disciplinary investigations into ethnic minority staff, including allegations of sexual violence. 

A brainchild of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the role varies between trusts, but in each case these ambassadors are not necessarily HR professionals; they are volunteers who carry out the role alongside their actual jobs. The kind of staff who seek this responsibility — and their politics — are not difficult to bring to mind. “

I agree with Mr Reynolds that these posts will be sought out by those who have identity politics interests, the sort of people who see racism and bias everywhere even in places and situations where it doesn’t exist or is not in anyway a factor. The scheme could end up as a DEI veto on disciplinary cases.

This is an extremely sinister scheme that no doubt will be exploited by some deeply sinister and unlovely people.

Mr Reynolds added:

“Documents released by Newcastle Hospitals characterise a Cultural Ambassador as “a full member of the investigation team” tasked with the “identification of witnesses and appropriate sources of evidence” as well as highlighting “areas where cultural bias or other cultural differences may be a factor”. What these “cultural differences” might be, or how they should affect the outcome of any investigation, we are not told. 

We do, however, read that HR may request a Cultural Ambassador’s involvement in “any case where there is an element of race, religion or culture involved in an alleged breach of the Disciplinary Policy, the Dignity & Respect at Work Policy, or the Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence Policy.”  “

This all sounds like some sort of race grifter’s charter. With this scheme patients might have to kiss goodbye to any prospects of making complaints about ethnic minority staff who screw up or treat them badly, have woefully poor English language skills or who are incompetent. Whilst not all NHS ethnic minority staff are bad, some are truly excellent, we should not deny that, but there are others who are less than adequate in their performance. It should worry everyone that these bad ethnic minority staff may be shielded from rebuke or discipline because of the existence of these ‘Cultural Ambassadors’.

Mr Reynolds then goes on to say that based on what he’s seen so far on this scheme the determination of bias in disciplinary panels will require little or nothing in the way of actual evidence. Materials related to this scheme seen by Mr Reynolds should give rise to concern about how it will operate. Some of the material that has been accessed by Mr Reynolds talks of ‘Cultural Ambassadors’ ‘trusting their own gut feeling’ about whether bias is there or not. In a situation such as a disciplinary panel where hard evidence should be prioritised, these Cultural Ambassadors will ensure that subjective feelings and perceptions will take priority. This is bound to not end well for patients or for those staff who may be subjected to untrue complaints about ‘racism’ or other similar matters.

If you wanted to invent a scheme that went against Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s call for people to be treated as per the content of their character rather than anything else then it would be this one.

Please go and read the entirety of Mr Reynolds’s piece and be shocked and angered that such a bad scheme is being introduced into an organisation that already has a multitude of organisational problems. Here’s the link to Mr Reynolds’s piece.

https://thecritic.co.uk/why-is-the-nhs-relying-on-cultural-ambassadors/