Abuse or racially motivated complaints

It is part of the ICAS code of practice to make it clear to complainants that there is no place for discrimination and harassment on any grounds – race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or age. The ICAS service also has statutory duties under sex, race and disability discrimination legislation.

The Campaign for Racial Equality gives examples of discrimination or harassment as follows

• ‘racist ‘jokes’, banter, insults, taunts, gibes, literature and graffiti
• shunning people because of their race, colour, nationality or ethnic background
• excluding them from conversations
• making racist insinuations
• being condescending or deprecating about the way they dress or speak; picking on them unnecessarily; and so on.

(Racial Harassment at Work: what employers can do about it (external link) CRE, 1999 )

The ICAS advocate should tell the complainant that their remarks, actions or behaviour is unacceptable. They should then refer the patient to their employer’s policy statement on harassment.

In many cases, the harasser may stop without the need for further action.

If the harassment persists after informal approaches by the ICAS advocate, then a more formal approach should be made by the line manager.

Link to ICAS provider’s protocol

The NHS Zero Tolerance Zone (external link) has detailed guidance on how to deal with abuse or racial harassment from complainants.

Improving Working Lives Tackling Racial Harassment
in the NHS: Good Practice Guidance (external link)

Supported closure resources

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