Woke NHS training scheme slammed by hospital whistleblower as employees 'scared to speak out'

One Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust staff member told GB News they "couldn't believe" some of the "offensive" training materials, not least those which inform trainees that "if you say you don't have white privilege, then you're racist".

The employee said: "Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with racism on any level - it's wrong on every single level, and I will challenge it."

They described an incident in which an ethnic-minority colleague had been called the "N-word" by a patient, prompting the staff member to raise it with management - and said the response they received was that "sometimes it happens", referencing the patient's age and the "era she came from".

"It's not an excuse," the staff member said.

But the Walsall Trust insider said that when they saw the training module, they "couldn't believe" what was inside.

One of the "quiz questions" in the module asks: "What is white privilege?" - with the assumed "correct" answer being: "An advantage that protects white people against any form of discrimination related to the colour of their skin."

That phrasing - protection against any form of race discrimination - was slated as "terrible" by the staff member.

They told GB News: "How can an NHS trust think that it's okay to make you admit you've got a white privilege over other people - and then tell you if you say you don't have white privilege, that that's being racist in itself?

"I find it really offensive, and the fact I have to admit I have white privilege is just wrong - and then it says if you say you don't have white privilege, you're racist.

"There's just so much wrong with it. It's really bad."

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Trainees are also told to "continue to educate yourself" on white privilege, as "unlearning" takes "time and dedication", and claims regardless of being "born rich or poor", white people are "still privileged because they have white skin".

Elsewhere, if participants answer "yes" to questions like "do you work with a boss with the same skin colour as you?" or "do you see birthday cards with people with the same skin colour as you?", they are told they "have significant privilege in the workplace" because of their skin colour.

"I just think it's wrong," the staff member said, adding that colleagues of all ethnicities "just cannot believe what we're being told to do".

They continued: "One of my colleagues - a white colleague - turned to me and said: 'It's making me feel ashamed to be white... in a country that's predominantly white.'

"I think it's something that needs to be raised. I just think it's abhorrent, and it's dreadful - not just for me as a white person, but it's actually upset a number of my Bame (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) colleagues who said that they felt very, very uncomfortable completing it as well. I think it's terrible."

GB News was told of another instance in which staff were asked about "microaggressions". In an example question, employees are asked to consider whether an Asian colleague "not allowed to join a gym because she doesn't have a visa that allows her to register on the electoral register yet" is racist. "That's not racist - it's just a process," the staff member jabbed.

The training tells participants they can't continue with other modules unless everything is completed.

The NHS employee told GB News that while they'd initially taken the stance of "I'm not going to complete this - they can come and ask me why", they eventually relented, thinking: "Oh God, you know what? Anything for a quiet life."

The training scheme pledges that participants' answers are anonymous and "won't be seen by anyone else", prompting the staff member to write in one text box: "Yes, I find racism completely unacceptable - as do I find completing this left-wing propaganda!"

They continued: "Quite frankly, I don't care - if they were to come back to me and ask me about it, I'd take great pleasure in telling them what I think and why I think it... but in a professional way."

The comments come amid claims tabled by medics across the country that whistleblowers are being "silenced" by NHS bosses in an alleged crackdown which has been slammed by central authorities at NHS England as "completely unacceptable".

Though the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS), which administers the training, assured GB News that there were anonymous channels for staff to speak up, the employee expressed their concern about keeping their identity concealed when talking to us.

"I just can't risk my job, because I love my job. It's an absolute privilege to do what I do," they said. "Someone's got to shed a light on this, because if you don't, they'll have got away with it."

The NHS employee told The People's Channel that staff hadn't brought up the training at work because they were "frightened that if we say anything, they'll label us racist".

They added: "I just don't feel safe enough to whistle-blow to the management that I work with - or even worse, to go over their heads."

They also highlighted an apparent case of hypocrisy in how politics was handled in the workplace ahead of the General Election.

The staff member said: "Everybody needs to be taught about racism - but this particular session is so far left-wing, it's unbelievable.

"The thing that strikes me is how they put politics into it and they shouldn't have done," they continued, adding that the Trust had told staff not to post anything on social media in the run-up to the election which would give away any political allegiances.

"If we were found to have been doing that, we would have been reprimanded. They think it's okay for them to put their left-wing politics onto us in this training module - it can't be one rule for them and one rule for us."

A Black Country Integrated Care System spokesperson told GB News: "The ICS works with Walsall Healthcare and staff from across the Black Country to develop training modules that are representative of the communities that make up our workforce and use our services.

"Walsall has a number of channels available for staff to speak up about any concerns they have - including anonymously - and we are not aware of anyone who has done so in relation to this training.

"We would encourage anyone who feels uncomfortable with any aspect of mandatory training to make us aware so we can discuss their concerns."