The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has condemned health leaders and politicians for allowing racism to “flourish” in the NHS, as new figures reveal a sharp rise in reported incidents of racial abuse against nursing staff.
Data obtained by the RCN through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests shows that nursing staff have reported more than 21,000 incidents of racism at work over the past four years – a 78% increase over that period.
The FOI requests were sent to NHS trusts and health boards across the UK and expose the scale of abuse faced by nurses and other nursing staff while carrying out their duties.
In 2025 alone, nursing staff reported 6,812 incidents of racial abuse, up from 3,652 in 2022. The RCN says this equates to a new report of racist abuse being made every 77 minutes somewhere in the NHS.
However, the union has warned that the true scale of the problem is likely to be far worse than the figures suggest. Dozens of NHS trusts and health boards that responded to the FOI requests either held no reportable data, provided implausibly low figures, or refused to supply information altogether.
The RCN also believes under‑reporting is widespread, with many nursing staff choosing not to raise incidents because they lack confidence that employers will take action, fear retaliation, or feel racist behaviour has become so normalised that reporting is futile.
The union is calling on NHS trusts and health boards to introduce far more robust and transparent protocols outlining exactly what action will be taken when racial abuse is reported.
From October, under the Employment Rights Act 2025, NHS employers will be legally liable for harassment of their own staff by patients or patients’ families, unless they can demonstrate they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent it.
Calls to the RCN advice line relating to racist abuse or discrimination increased by 70% between 2022 and 2025. Reports include patients saying they did not want black people caring for their relatives, as well as abuse from colleagues based on skin colour and nationality.
To address the issue, the RCN is urging governments and health leaders across the UK to introduce standardised, streamlined incident reporting systems across NHS employers.
The union says reports should consistently capture details such as staff role, work area and ethnicity of the person reporting abuse. This would allow organisations to identify patterns, pinpoint high‑risk areas and implement preventative measures to stop incidents recurring.
The RCN has also continued to criticise the use of anti‑migrant rhetoric by politicians, warning it has helped embolden racist behaviour. It says the situation has been made worse by changes to rules on Indefinite Leave to Remain, which it argues have unfairly scapegoated migrant nursing staff.
Professor Nicola Ranger, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said:
“These findings show a catastrophic rise in the racist abuse faced by nursing staff. It is a disgrace, and perhaps just as bad is the fact that many NHS trusts and health boards cannot even tell us how many staff have been on the receiving end. It amounts to a policy of ‘don’t know, don’t care’.
“Nursing staff are the lifeblood of our NHS and social care too, made up of every nationality and ethnicity, coming together to care for patients every day. They are a shining example of a successful, multicultural modern United Kingdom, and they deserve better than for this disgusting racism and abuse to flourish and become so normalised.”
For NHS leaders and policymakers, the findings raise urgent questions about workforce safety, legal compliance and whether enough is being done to protect staff from racism at work.
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