Andrew Foster, a Hospital Boss from Wigan, Lancashire, recently postured to the BBC how wonderful a person he is when he scolded an A&E patient for demanding to see a white doctor.
By claiming that the behaviour of this patient was 'appalling', he has tried to market himself as 'woke' and 'with it' but inadvertently he has shown himself to be clueless about the real issues of racism.
'How so?' you may ask - well, I personally do not find what was said by this person racist... without context it is hard to judge the person's actions. Is the person of an age whereby he/she/other feels more comfortable talking with a doctor of the same skin colour, does the person have issues understanding what a non-white person says and feels embarrassed about this (I will admit that some BAME people might well be difficult for some white people to understand - it's not racist to say 'sorry I do not understand' and never feel difficult for not being able to understand IF you are willing to try). Does the person have mental health issues or is the patient autistic or have special needs issues etc?
I am more concerned with the Patient's needs than the Doctor's 'wokeness' and really why is there a shortage of white doctors in the UK? Oh yeah, I forgot - it's so that the white elites can import Doctor's from other countries (thereby impacting on the Health Services of these countries) and not have to pay extras because BAME's are viewed as trash by them. That is the real rub of things, and people like Dr. Foster in his position of white privilege will be well aware of that.
The NHS should commit towards getting the best quality of homegrown doctors possible, and here race does not matter it needs to be on the quality and skills of the individual. I happen to have a white doctor who is great to chat with and understands and respects me, and yes I do count myself lucky in that respect. I well understand some white people being uneasy with a BAME Doctor if they cannot understand what is being said and keep quiet for fears of being outed as racist and would urge them to not feel embarrassed. saying 'sorry, I don't quite understand' is not racist if it is said with honesty and any Doctor would (and should) be happy to explain in a thorough and polite manner.
The fact that this Dr. Foster has also got the Police involved, at a time when forces nationally are stretched, also shows out his lack of nuance. The Police have other more important matters to deal with than some white person saying things that you are not happy with. Okay, some people are morons but suggesting racism without reason only offends and hurts race relationships further.
Let us hope that in the future you scribe to the notion of common sense and do not go crying to the media and powers-that-be because you care more about wokeness than actually treating patients.
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