That Time I Was On BBC News

I’ve officially come to the end of my first year as a junior doctor (more on this to come in a separate post), and I was given the opportunity to be interviewed by BBC Look North last week, for a piece on racism in the NHS.

Ever since I did a presentation to junior doctors at my hospital on micro-aggressions I’ve personally experienced, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of meetings with my hospital’s Medical Education team, the BAME Leadership Network, the Trust Organisational Development team, and the CHIEF EXECUTIVE.

It’s all been a bit overwhelming to be honest, but the long story short is that my hospital is now trying to raise more awareness of micro-aggressions and more subtle manifestations of racism, as part of new diversity and inclusion initiatives, as these are all too commonly experienced by ethnic minorities.

I’ve been so honoured to be asked to be part of a steering group and the committee driving this, as it is an issue I feel very strongly about, and I’m feeling super positive about the potential this has to make a difference.

So it was great to be able to talk about all this on the news, as part of the ongoing discourse. Still very strongly believe that the onus shouldn’t always be on the people on the receiving end of offensive comments to keep calling them out though, so to all new doctors, make sure you speak up on the wards if colleagues/patients say problematic things.

(And as they’ve always done, black lives STILL matter by the way, even if your newsfeeds have gone silent.)